McCrae Dowless arrested amid absentee ballot investigation in 9th District congressional race https://abc11.com/politics/mccrae-dowless-arrested-amid-absentee-ballot-investigation/5159530/ Leslie McCrae Dowless, the political operative at the center of a ballot fraud scandal in Bladen County, was arrested Wednesday on criminal charges over activities in the 2016 elections and the Republican primary in 2018. The North Carolina political operative at the center of a ballot fraud scandal was arrested Wednesday on criminal charges over activities in the 2016 elections and the Republican primary in 2018. The indictments were made public Wednesday, following the arrest of Dowless. Dowless faces charges of three counts felonious obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of absentee ballots. According to testimony and other findings detailed at an election board hearing last week, Dowless conducted an illegal "ballot harvesting" operation. He and his assistants are accused of gathering up absentee ballots from voters by offering to put them in the mail. He was working on behalf of Republican candidate Mark Harris, who had a slim lead in the vote count before the investigation. Others charged include Caitlyn E. Croom, Matthew Monroe Mathis, Tonia Gordon and Rebecca Thompson. Each faces one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of possession of absentee ballot. Mr. Mathis further faces charges of falsely signing the voter certification on an absentee ballot. Last week, the State Board of Elections ordered a new election in the 9th District. Mark Harris announced this week that he will not run in that election, citing his health. He was hospitalized last month by a blood infection and said he suffered two strokes. He said he needs surgery late next month. Dan McCready has announced that he will again run for the 9th district office. Dowless Indictment PDF - https://dig.abclocal.go.com/wtvd/docs/DowlessIndictment.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,792,631 Second article from WRAL - McCrae Dowless, central figure in 9th District election probe, indicted https://www.wral.com/mccrae-dowless-central-figure-in-9th-district-election-probe-indicted/18222776/
Shooting range owner taking aim at 9th District seat https://www.wral.com/shooting-range-owner-taking-aim-at-9th-district-seat/18226430/ When Republican Mark Harris bowed out of the new election state officials ordered in the 9th Congressional District, he also offered his own idea on who should represent the district in the U.S. House. "It is my hope that, in the upcoming primary, a solid conservative leader will emerge to articulate the critical issues that face our nation. Over the course of campaigning in the district, I met and got to know one such leader: Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing," Harris said. "His background and his experience have proven him to stand firm on so many of the issues that concern us, including the issue of life, our national security, and religious freedom. I hope that those who have stood with me will strongly consider getting behind Stony Rushing." Relatively unknown outside of Union County, the 47-year-old Rushing became an overnight sensation in the 9th District story that has gained national attention. His fame only grew after photos of him dressed as the character Boss Hogg from the 1980s television series "The Dukes of Hazzard" – white tux, white Stetson hat, cigar in hand – spread on social media. "My son said I’m trending on Twitter. That made me look cool again in his eyes," Rushing said Thursday at the Taking Aim shooting range he owns outside Pageland, just across the South Carolina line from Union County. A distant cousin of his, Jerry Rushing, was a moonshiner whose antics inspired the "The Dukes of Hazzard." But Stony Rushing said he only rented the outfit for Halloween and took some photos for use in his campaign for commissioner last fall. "That has gotten me a lot of mileage," he said. "I think those pictures were well worth the money spent to get those." "You can see working on the range outside here, a white suit wouldn’t be conducive to that," he added. Rushing said his critics have equated him with the bumbling and corrupt Boss Hogg character, but he quickly dismissed it. "My detractors like to make those comparisons, but as one of my supporters told somebody, 'Stony likes to play dumb, but he's the smartest guy in the room,'" he said. There is a real-life investigation into possible corruption in the 9th District election, however. Harris appeared to have won the race, but state elections officials last week called for a new election after finding that a campaign worker Harris hired, McRae Dowless, led an operation in which absentee ballots were illegally taken from voters in Bladen County. "Mark Harris is a good, solid man. ... I know Mark Harris didn’t do anything to commit voter fraud," Rushing said. "I definitely think whatever happened here should have been tried in a court of law to begin with, not in a court of public opinion." Dowless was charged Wednesday with obstruction of justice, conspiracy and illegal possession of absentee ballots in connection with his work in the 2016 general election and 2018 primary. Authorities said he could face more charges connected to the election last fall. Rushing said Dowless welcomes the charges. "I think he's excited to go to court," he said. "That' everything I've heard from the residents of Bladen County – finally they get their day in court, a real court." He blames the Democrats and candidate Dan McCready for the scandal, saying claims of messing with mail-in ballots are overblown. "You can go all over the state of North Carolina and find ballot issues with absentee ballots. What they need to do is tighten up that process, tighten up those instructions," he said. Rushing hasn't officially declared as a candidate, but he said he plans to throw his hat – white Stetson or otherwise – into the ring. "There’s nobody who understands the 9th District like I do," he said, noting that he grew up on a farm in the rural district. "We were behind Mark Harris 100 percent," he said. "I told him I'd take up the fight."
State picks date for new 9th District election https://www.wral.com/state-picks-date-for-new-9th-district-election/18232861/ State elections officials on Monday set dates for primaries and a new general election in the 9th Congressional District. Candidate filing will run next Monday through March 15, primaries will be held May 14 and a general election will be held Sept. 10. If runoffs are needed in either primary, that would be held Sept. 10, and the general election would move back to Nov. 5. State elections director Kim Strach said her staff would "be on the ground" in Bladen and Robeson counties to ensure all protocols are followed properly. The State Board of Elections last month ordered a new election in the 9th District after determining absentee ballot fraud in the race tainted the election results from last fall. Republican Mark Harris led Democrat Dan McCready by about 900 votes after the November election, but the state board refused to certify the results because of suspicious absentee voting patterns in Bladen and Robeson counties. Testimony from a four-day hearing showed McCrae Dowless, a Bladen County political operative whom Harris had hired for get-out-the-vote efforts, sent people dor to door to collect absentee ballots, which is illegal in North Carolina. Lisa Britt, who worked for Dowless, also testified that she and other staffers sometimes filled out incomplete ballots and that she forged her mother's signature as a witness on absentee ballots because Dowless said she was witnessing too many. Dowless was indicted last week on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and illegal possession of an absentee ballot in connection with his work during the 2016 general election and the 2018 primary. Four other people also were indicted, and one, Caitlyn Croom, surrendered to authorities in New Hanover County over the weekend. None of the other three has yet surrendered. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who has been investigating election fraud allegations in Bladen County for a year, said more charges are possible after she reviews the findings of the state board's hearing. A state law enacted in December requires that new primaries be held whenever a new congressional election is ordered. Although state law says candidates that were on the original ballot should appear on the ballot in a new election, Katelyn Love, deputy general counsel for the elections board, said that new candidate filing period is needed because the state already certified the primary results in the 9th District. If the board had never certified those results and had ordered new primaries, then the election would be limited to candidates who ran in the 9th District last year, Love said. Because that's not the case, the new election needs to be opened up to new candidates, she said. Harris has already bowed of the race, citing health problems. Other prominent Republicans, including former Congressman Robert Pittenger and former Gov. Pat McCrory, also have passed on the new 9th District election. North Carolina Republican Party officials said they expect numerous candidates in the GOP primary. McCready restarted his campaign the day after the state board ordered a new election. It's unclear whether anyone would oppose him in the Democratic primary (Videos and more information at above url)
Ten seek GOP nomination in 9th District https://www.wral.com/ten-seek-gop-nomination-in-9th-district/18262012/ Republican voters in the state’s 9th Congressional District will have 10 candidates to choose from in a new election for the U.S. House seat. But Democrats and two other parties running in the 9th District won't even need a primary. The State Board of Elections last month ordered a new election in the 9th District after finding absentee ballot tampering in the November election. Republican Mark Harris, who ran last fall, isn't running in the new election. The GOP candidates who are include: Chris Anglin, a Raleigh lawyer who ran for state Supreme Court last fall State Sen. Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenburg, who is best known for sponsoring House Bill 2, the since-repealed state law limiting transgender rights Kathie Day, a real estate agent from Mecklenburg County Gary Dunn, a Mecklenburg County businessman who has run for governor as both a Republican and a Democrat and who lost the 2017 GOP primary for Charlotte mayor Stevie Rivenbark Hull, a Fayetteville businesswoman Matthew Ridenhour, a former Mecklenburg County commissioner Stony Rushing, a Union County commissioner who has been endorsed by Harris Fern Shubert of Union County, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate Leigh Thomas Brown, a real estate agent and motivational speaker from Mecklenburg County who lost a 2014 primary for a state House seat Albert Wiley Jr., a physician from Salter Path who has run for Congress several times since the mid-1980s. They will face off in a May 14 primary, and the State Board of Elections determined Friday that they will appear on the ballot in alphabetical order starting with last names that begin with the letter "F." If no one gets at least 30 percent of the vote, the second-place candidate can seek a runoff primary, which would be held Sept 10. Absentee ballots will be mailed out in a couple of weeks, and the State Board of Elections will have staff in Bladen and Robeson counties to ensure there are no problems this time, spokesman Patrick Gannon said. "[They will] be there to assist the county board staffs and monitor and make sure everything is going smoothly and that everything's being done by the book," Gannon said. On the Democratic side, no one signed up to challenge Dan McCready, the party’s nominee from last fall. Jeff Scott, the Libertarian candidate in the November election, also is running again, and Green Party candidate Allen Smith will be joining the race. Harris led McCready by about 900 votes after the November election, but the state board refused to certify the results until allegations of absentee ballot fraud in Bladen and Robeson counties could be investigated. The board found that McCrae Dowless, whom Harris hired for a get-out-the-vote effort, had a staff that went door to door illegally collecting absentee ballots from voters. Dowless already faces criminal charges for his absentee ballot work in the 2016 general election and the 2018 primary. State and federal investigators are looking into his activities in last fall's election. The general election for the 9th District will be held Nov. 5, but if no runoff primary is needed to determine the GOP nominee, it will be on Sept. 10. The 9th District runs along the South Carolina state line from Charlotte to Robeson County before turning north to take in southern Cumberland County and western Bladen County. Some voters in Cumberland County said Friday that they aren't enthralled with the prospect of having to vote again to elect their congressional representative. "I'm just really shocked. Now what happens? Are we going to have to go through the whole process again? Our votes didn't count?" Helen Zaldanda asked. "I think it's bad for our community. I think it's bad for our state," Jeremy Fisher said. "North Carolina has been through a lot, and I think it puts us back on a national stage in a negative light. And it's going to cost a lot of money." Printing ballots ans staffing early voting sites and Election Day polling places in the 20 Cumberland County precincts for the primary and general election will cost about $160,000 to $170,000, county elections director Terri Robertson said. "We will have to hire precinct officials to work. We will have to hire people to deliver equipment. Then there's the programing, the cost of programming, the cost of ballots," Robertson said.
Guy is a total scam artist... Man at center of District 9 election scandal indicted for social security fraud https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/m...al-security-fraud/PQMKUNK54NB55BWKVJNSPHRLXI/ McCrae Dowless, the man at the center of the District 9 election scandal, has been indicted on federal charges for collecting disability while being paid for working on campaigns in 2018. According to court documents, Dowless worked for at least two candidates and their campaigns during the 2018 Midterm election. During that time, he reportedly got paid thousands of dollars for his work, yet failed to report his income to the Social Security Administration. (More at above url)
Remember Mark Harris? The would-be Congressman from NC who got his election yanked after being caught red-handed in an election fraud scheme? Yep, he's running again. Oh yeah, and he's a hard-core Trumper if anyone had any doubt. Mark Harris announces House bid after election fraud controversy https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...-after-election-fraud-controversy/ar-AA1gBRfm Republican Mark Harris announced on Tuesday that he will run for Congress in North Carolina, five years after Harris’ campaign was the subject of fraud allegations. Harris is running for the state's 8th District, which is expected to be an open seat with incumbent GOP Rep. Dan Bishop running for state attorney general next year. When Harris ran for the House in 2018, he initially led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes after the votes were tallied. But the election board declined to certify the results and ordered a do-over election the following year amid accusations that McCrae Dowless, an operative hired by Harris’ campaign consultants, organized an illegal scheme to collect and mark absentee ballots. Dowless was later indicted and faced three felony counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of absentee ballots — but died last year, before the case went to trial. Harris, who was not charged criminally in the case, later announced in 2019 that he would not run in the do-over election, which Bishop, then a state senator, won narrowly. In an announcement video released Tuesday, Harris echoed former President Donald Trump's false claims about the last presidential election. “[In] 2020, Democrats stole the election from Donald Trump. The year before, they did it to me,” Harris said in an announcement video. “Well, in 2024, President Trump is making a comeback, and so am I.” The exact contours of the district Harris is seeking are unknown, since North Carolina's GOP-controlled state legislature is expected to redraw the congressional district lines before next year's elections. But it is expected to be a solidly Republican seat based in the suburbs and exurbs east of Charlotte. “As living expenses soar, our southern border remains compromised, and the weight of Bidenomics presses on our families, I'm rising to the challenge to champion the hardworking people of North Carolina, who've had enough of DC bureaucrats adding hurdles to their daily lives,” Harris said on Twitter.
Remember Mark Harris -- you know, the candidate who funded all the ballot fraud in the 9th district. Well he just won the Republican primary for the 8th district. Of course, Mark Harris is super-Trumpy supported and also supported by NC GOP governor candidate Mark Robinson. I guess the GOP does not have a problem with candidates who commit large-scale ballot fraud. Republican accused of massive ballot fraud poised to win GOP nomination for a North Carolina House seat https://www.dailydot.com/debug/mark-harris-mail-in-north-carolina/