A North Carolina Republican running for state attorney general has dismissed a significant incident of voter fraud in 2018 that resulted in a new election as “fairly minor illegal ballot harvesting.”
Dan Bishop, a congressman whose district is outside Charlotte, made the comments on an April 1 episode of Reclaiming America Podcast.
In 2018, Marcos Harris, a Republican, won the race to represent North Carolina’s ninth congressional district. But shortly after the election, the North Carolina state election board voted to nullify a congressional election. and call a new one after an investigation revealed that a Harris agent was illegally collecting absentee ballots. Harris decided not to run again and Bishop ultimately won the seat.
The operative, Leslie McCrae Dowless, allegedly instructed those who worked for him to falsely sign as voters’ witnesses even though they did not witness the voter filling out the ballot and making it appear as if the voter himself returned the ballot when he did not. People who work for Dowless said they collected hundreds of mail-in ballots and, in some cases, were told to fill out ballots for local candidates. In North Carolina, a voter must obtain two witnesses or a notary sign an absentee ballot envelope and it is illegal for anyone other than the voter, a close relative or legal guardian to return the ballot.
Dowless was charged with multiple crimes for his conduct in the 2016 and 2018 elections. died in 2022, before the case goes to trial. Several others involved in the scheme alleged guilty of misdemeanors.
Bishop said in the interview that the election board “under Democratic control” decided to overturn the election. Although Democrats had a 3-2 majority on the council at the time, the vote for a new election was unanimous. Mark Harris, the Republican candidate who won, also called a new election, and the state Republican Party supported Harris’ decision not to run again. Harris, who won the Republican primary for Congress earlier this year, has since retreated from her stance, falsely accusing Democrats to steal the election from him.
A spokesperson for the Bishop did not respond to a request for comment.
The type of fraud that occurred in North Carolina – which is extremely rare – is exactly the type of activity that Republicans across the country have attempted to breakpassing laws that make it harder for third parties and non-family members to return absentee ballots on the voter’s behalf.
Bishop voted against certification the 2020 election. During the same April 1 interview, he acknowledged the immense power he would have over election issues if elected attorney general this fall. “I will say that I believe the number one impact an attorney general can have is in the area of election integrity, ensuring that the type of harm that has occurred in election-related litigation is responded to appropriately,” he said.
