McCrae Dowless, a Bladen County, N.C., elected official and political operative, paid workers to collect absentee ballots and return them to him before the 2016 election, witnesses told state board of election investigators, according to documents released Wednesday.
The State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement released the documents as part of its investigation into mail-in absentee ballot and voting irregularities during the 2018 election in Bladen and Robeson counties. The board has declined to certify the results of North Carolina's 9th Congressional District race as a result.
In 2018, Republican Mark Harris _ the apparent winner of the 9th District election by 905 votes over Democrat Dan McCready _ hired Dowless to work on absentee ballots and get-out-the-vote operations in Bladen County.
