DOJ Issues Subpoenas In North Carolina Election Fraud Probe

BLADENBORO, UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 5: Leslie McCrae Dowless sits in his kitchen in Bladenboro, NC. Dowless who worked provide get-out-the-vote services for Republican candidate Mark Harris in North Carolinas 9th Co... BLADENBORO, UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 5: Leslie McCrae Dowless sits in his kitchen in Bladenboro, NC. Dowless who worked provide get-out-the-vote services for Republican candidate Mark Harris in North Carolinas 9th Congressional District in Bladen County, NC. The North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement decided not to certify the 9th Congressional District election results, which includes Bladen County, between Harris and Democrat Dan McCready due to possible voter fraud involving absentee ballots. A controversy Leslie McCrae Dowless is at the center of. (Photo by Justin Kase Conder for The Washington Post via Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas for a grand jury investigation into the alleged absentee ballot fraud that tainted the congressional race in North Carolina’s 9th District.

According to local channel WBTV, at least three subpoenas have been issued. One went to the North Carolina Board of Elections, which has been conducting its own investigation. Another went to McCrae Dowless, the campaign operative who worked for Republican Mark Harris and headed the voter fraud scheme.

Dowless has already been arrested on seven state charges related to the fraud in the 2018 election, as well as a Republican primary in 2016. Four of Dowless’ employees have also been arrested.

The federal grand jury will reportedly meet from April 16 to April 18.

The Board of Elections has already tossed the tainted congressional race — and two other smaller races in Bladen County — and set a new election for September 10. Harris has bowed out of the race, citing his poor health. Democrat Dan McCready is running again, and former Mecklenburg County commissioner Matthew Ridenhour has jumped in on the Republican side.

The board put out a statement in response to the subpoena Monday:

Read the subpoena to the board of elections here:

Grand Jury Subpoena by on Scribd

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. I’d be good with Dowless getting a slap on the wrist if he could implicate much bigger fish. Sadly this one likely just represents local shenanigans.

  2. So the DOJ will somehow blame Hillary and email server best practices? This is such an obvious case of GOP rat-f**king that the only possible purpose the DOJ can have is to muck things up and somehow get the Republican appointed.

  3. I think that the most we can expect out of this is for Dowless to flip and implicate Harris.

  4. Note that this is coming from DoJ Election Integrity Section in DC, not the U.S. Attorney in the EDNC. Most people here know this, but the EDNC U.S. Attorney is a hard right partisan who’s been one of the only AUSA’s willing to play the “Illegal Alienz iz Votin’!” in-person voter fraud is a thing game. He’s been in a lengthy wrangle with the state over a demand for a vast amount of Board of Elections voting data. His failure to address this actual vote fraud has been conspicuous.

    Fairness compels to say whether DC stepped in because of his inaction or his inaction is due to DC saying “we got this,” or, indeed, whether he called them in in the first place, is unknown, and any of these could be the case.

  5. This is one of those cases where investigating the investigators is a solid idea.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

4 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for think_logically Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for fuashcroft Avatar for greenman66 Avatar for atldrew Avatar for occamscoin

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: