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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 9 January 2019

AP Exclusive: NC election fraud probed long before 2018 race

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and law that formed it as un-
EMERY P. DALESIO, Associ- constitutional. A revamped
ated Press board is due to be seated
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Long Jan. 31.
before accusations of ab- Democratic leaders in the
sentee ballot fraud in a U.S. House have said they
small North Carolina county won’t allow Harris to take
cast doubt on the results of office because of the on-
a heated 2018 congressio- going investigation. The
nal race, a state elections U.S. Constitution makes
investigator spent weeks the House the judge and
probing whether the man final arbiter of its members’
at the center of the cur- election contests.
rent scandal was among a Tutor, the former elections
group buying votes. investigator, said he sus-
That 2010 investigation was pected in 2010 that po-
one of at least a half dozen litical candidates or their
instances over the last nine supporters were funneling
years that prosecutors and undisclosed cash to Dow-
elections officials received less to fund efforts to influ-
complaints of serious elec- ence votes.
tions irregularities in Bladen “Dowless deals in cash,” Tu-
County, a rural locale of tor said. “He doesn’t care
35,000 people that has long about party affiliation. You
had a statewide reputa- show him the money, and
tion for political chicanery he’ll get the votes.”
by both Republicans and In this Dec. 5, 2018 photo, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. poses for a portrait outside of his home in Years later, evidence sur-
Democrats. The state’s on- Bladenboro, N.C. , faced that at least some
going criminal investigation Associated Press political cash had been
into 2018 voting irregulari- he was unable to build Dowless and others, warn- 6 vote where Republican steered to Dowless that
ties has focused on Leslie a strong enough case ing in a January 2017 letter Mark Harris leads Demo- was never disclosed in
McCrae Dowless Jr., a lo- against Dowless to support that those involved in ille- crat Dan McCready by 905 campaign finance reports,
cal political operative and criminal charges. gally harvesting absentee votes, according to unoffi- as required by state law.
convicted felon. “Dowless was throwing ballots in Bladen would like- cial results. State investiga- Jeffrey S. Smith, a Bladen
Marshall Tutor, who retired a lot of money around,” ly do it again if they weren’t tors are also probing Dow- County sweepstakes par-
in March after 15 years as said Tutor, 70, recount- prosecuted. Investigators less’ work for Harris for the lor operator, says he gave
an investigator for the N.C. ing the 2010 investigation. are now probing whether May 2018 Republican pri- Dowless off-the-books cash
Board of Elections, told “There was no paper trail. Dowless ran a sophisticat- mary, in which he narrowly in 2014. Smith testified as
The Associated Press his Witnesses refused to give ed operation over multiple defeated incumbent U.S. part of a lawsuit that he
office first fielded accusa- sworn statements or testify election cycles to collect Rep. Robert Pittenger. gave Dowless three cash
tions nearly a decade ago in court. No one was going absentee ballots from vot- Harris has admitted making payments totaling $5,800
that Dowless, now 62, was to admit they were paid $5 ers, potentially altering the the decision to hire Dowless on behalf of current Bladen
among a group giving vot- to vote. But where there’s selections or not turning after hearing about him County Sheriff Jim McVick-
ers cash to fill out ballots the that much smoke, there them in to be counted. Un- from Bladen GOP officials, er, a Republican.
way he directed. was fire.” der state law, it is illegal for paying for the absentee “Everybody will tell you
Emails obtained by AP Dowless did not respond anyone other than a voter ballot operation through that McCrae takes cash
through a public records Tuesday to a message or their immediate family to a political consulting firm. for work,” Smith told AP in
request detail the elections seeking comment. His at- handle an absentee bal- Harris, a Baptist minister, an interview last month, re-
board’s 2010 investigation torney, Cynthia Adams Sin- lot before it is sealed and has denied knowledge of counting the payments.
in Bladen, which began gletary, issued a statement mailed. any wrongdoing. He filed North Carolina’s legislature
after a Democratic candi- last month asserting that Also at issue is whether a lawsuit last week asking has repeatedly voted to
date for county commis- Dowless hasn’t broken any Dowless was working part a state judge to order his outlaw so-called sweep-
sioner reported seeing po- campaign laws. of a larger local political certification as the winner stakes games, which typi-
litical operatives handing The AP first reported last machine, including wheth- of the November election. cally resemble video slot
voters what he suspected month that North Caro- er he could have had im- North Carolina’s appointed machines. But many of
to be cash outside an early lina’s top elections official proper help from current elections board was dis- the operations have man-
voting site. issued an urgent plea near- or former Bladen County solved earlier this month aged to stay open with
Tutor traveled to Bladen ly two years ago for the officials. The state Board by a panel of three state court challenges, software
multiple times, but said Trump administration to file of Elections refused to cer- judges who in October tweaks and frequent politi-
in an interview Monday criminal charges against tify the results of the Nov. struck down the GOP-back cal donations.q