- Oct 17, 2011
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Charlotte-area pastor Mark Harris, who was at the center of an absentee mail ballot scandal five years ago that resulted in a rare election do-over, said Tuesday he’s going to run for Congress next year in the 8th Congressional District.
Harris, a Republican, ran for Congress in 2018. But his apparent victory over Democrat Dan McCready was overturned because of election fraud.
The mastermind of the scheme to illegally collect completed and uncompleted mail ballots was political operative McCrae Dowless. Witnesses told state election officials that Dowless gathered hundreds of absentee ballots from Bladen County voters with the help of his assistants. Dowless’ workers testified at a state board hearing that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates.
[Dowless later pleaded guilty to government theft and defrauding the government over Social Security fraud, but he apparently died before the election tampering trial could be held.]
Harris himself was never charged, but he ""appeared to mislead" the board with some of his testimony. Harris later acknowledged that some of his testimony had been inaccurate, blaming his health problems as an explanation for his erroneous testimony."
[When a mulligan was declared, Harris cited ill health as his reason for not participating in the do-over.]
Harris, a Republican, ran for Congress in 2018. But his apparent victory over Democrat Dan McCready was overturned because of election fraud.
The mastermind of the scheme to illegally collect completed and uncompleted mail ballots was political operative McCrae Dowless. Witnesses told state election officials that Dowless gathered hundreds of absentee ballots from Bladen County voters with the help of his assistants. Dowless’ workers testified at a state board hearing that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates.
[Dowless later pleaded guilty to government theft and defrauding the government over Social Security fraud, but he apparently died before the election tampering trial could be held.]
Harris himself was never charged, but he ""appeared to mislead" the board with some of his testimony. Harris later acknowledged that some of his testimony had been inaccurate, blaming his health problems as an explanation for his erroneous testimony."
[When a mulligan was declared, Harris cited ill health as his reason for not participating in the do-over.]
