Congressional Special Election (last call! unstickied after NY-27 final results)

[lfromnj]

Tbf the gerrymander was an own goal by the NC dems. They repealed the governor veto. If they didn't Dole would have been able to veto it.

[jimrtex]

http://www.wfae.org/post/nc-elections-investigator-seized-absentee-ballots-bladen-county#stream/0

They note the 2016 election, but omit some important details.

In 2016, the allegations were that  the Bladen Improvement Political Action Committee, whose leader was Horace Munn had harvested votes, including writing in the name of a write-in candidate for a non-partisan election for a conservation district. The write-in votes appeared to use similar handwriting. Munn said at the time that they had been informed that they should have signed the ballots as giving assistance, even though they didn't (according to Munn) provide assistance in filling out the bubbles.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Horace Munn, is incidentally a Black Democrat, and his organization received funding from the Democratic Party as a GOTV effort.

Munn may be related to county commissioner Ophelia Munn-Goins who is a Black Democrat.

So a volunteer goes to door of some voter who is harassed and intimidated at the polls, in the 75% Democratic-registration county. The volunteer is working for a Democrat-funded group headed by a Black Democrat who may be related to a Black Democratic county commissioner.

"Mrs. Johnson, I'm here to help you with your ballot. I've brought a sample ballot so you know how to vote. Be sure to write in Franklin Graham. You don't know how to write in, or maybe are afraid the Klan will recognize your printing? I suppose I can help you with that. Is your lumbago acting up, and need help with some bubbles. You're right, it was better when we used X's. I don't know why they changed. You say I know how you vote. I guess I do (chuckle). Straight-ticket Democrat. There, I'm finished. I'll seal up the envelope and you can sign the envelope. I'll make sure this gets to the election folks. If I bring enough in, I'll get some scholarship money."

So a dedicated young Democratic runner who is just trying to make some money to pay for college, helps an elderly widow or couple, and goes a little bit extra by filling out the ballot, but never actually telling them how to vote beyond providing a sample ballot for them to copy, may have inadvertently committed an election offense.

Also in 2016, it was reported that Michael Cogdell had taken pictures inside the early voting site, apparently using the motion recording option. Cogdell is a county commissioner, and incidentally a Black Democrat, took his phone outside and showed the pictures to Horace Dunn (see above) and a news reporter.

There was a second election complaint in Bladen County. Kenneth Register (D) lost a district race for commissioner to a Republican. This may be the first election in the 21st, 20th, or late 19th century where a Republican had won a commissioner district in Bladen County.

Three at large seats are elected by limited voting. At the time of the 2016 primary it was noted that the Democrats had chosen their two commissioners. But at the general election Republicans won two seats, because 54% of the votes for a Democrat, were for Cogdell, while the remainder were split between two candidates. The Republicans ran two candidates and they finished 2nd and 3rd.

Register's complaint said that there had been tampering with memory sticks and also irregularities in absentee voting. Register had been nominated in the Democratic primary, defeating an incumbent Democrat by a 19 vote margin, 948:929, which was one vote outside the 1% margin needed for a recount. Register had received 93.1% of the absentee ballots, while receiving 45.3% of the in-person voting. Register was said to be supported by the Bladen Improvement Political Action Committee (see above) and two witnesses on his complaint were Michael Cogdell and Horace Munn (see above and above). Register received 65% of the absentee votes in the general election, vs. 44.3% of the in-person votes.

An affidavit from one woman said that an individual had told her that he could get some money for getting so many absentee ballots. She liked to help young people out, so she requested a ballot for herself, her forty-year-old daughter, and twin 20-year-old sons. Her daughter was not eligible for an absentee ballot because she didn't live in North Carolina, but she received three ballots. Presumably, her daughter also did not live in the same house, and perhaps had not for close to two decades. The young person persisted in coming back to collect the ballots, but she had not have a chance to fill out the ballots (plural, sic). I don't know why it never occurred to her to let her two sons fill out their own ballots.

At the hearing before the Bladen County Board of Elections, the board ruled that there was not probable cause for the alleged tampering with the memory sticks. Register replied that it was not alleged tampering, he had witnessed it himself. The board also said they could not review the allegations about absentee voting because the state board had taken jurisdiction because of the allegations in the other case.

So move forward to 2018, and the state board seizes the applications for absentee ballots the day after the election, probably before it was clear that the congressional race would be close. A Democratic member from the state board from neighboring Robeson County admits "sadly" there is a history of vote harvesting in his part of the state. Rest assured, it wasn't the Republicans who had been doing the harvesting in an extremely Democratic Party of the state. There has always been a Republican presence in the western part of the state since the Civil War, and this gradually spread to the cities (Wake voted for Ford in 1976, and Mecklenburg was only narrowly carried by Carter, but the rural eastern part of the state has been a holdout.

The only Republicans to carry Bladen County were Hoover in 1928 (Smith was Catholic and a wet); Nixon in 1972 (McGovern was a peacenik ultraliberal); Bush in 2004 (by 65 votes); and Trump in 2016. BTW, Wallace had a plurality in 1968.

The bipartisan state board unanimously voted to withhold certification of the congressional race because of

(1) Even the Republicans were embarrassed by the shenanigans in Bladen County. The Democrats gleefully went along.

or

(2) The Republicans wanted to complete the investigation so that they could embarrass Roy Cooper. The Democrats couldn't afford to quash the investigation - so they got a fig leaf of not certifying the results.

[NOVA Green]

http://www.wfae.org/post/nc-elections-investigator-seized-absentee-ballots-bladen-county#stream/0

They note the 2016 election, but omit some important details.

In 2016, the allegations were that  the Bladen Improvement Political Action Committee, whose leader was Horace Munn had harvested votes, including writing in the name of a write-in candidate for a non-partisan election for a conservation district. The write-in votes appeared to use similar handwriting. Munn said at the time that they had been informed that they should have signed the ballots as giving assistance, even though they didn't (according to Munn) provide assistance in filling out the bubbles.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Horace Munn, is incidentally a Black Democrat, and his organization received funding from the Democratic Party as a GOTV effort.

Munn may be related to county commissioner Ophelia Munn-Goins who is a Black Democrat.

So a volunteer goes to door of some voter who is harassed and intimidated at the polls, in the 75% Democratic-registration county. The volunteer is working for a Democrat-funded group headed by a Black Democrat who may be related to a Black Democratic county commissioner.

"Mrs. Johnson, I'm here to help you with your ballot. I've brought a sample ballot so you know how to vote. Be sure to write in Franklin Graham. You don't know how to write in, or maybe are afraid the Klan will recognize your printing? I suppose I can help you with that. Is your lumbago acting up, and need help with some bubbles. You're right, it was better when we used X's. I don't know why they changed. You say I know how you vote. I guess I do (chuckle). Straight-ticket Democrat. There, I'm finished. I'll seal up the envelope and you can sign the envelope. I'll make sure this gets to the election folks. If I bring enough in, I'll get some scholarship money."

So a dedicated young Democratic runner who is just trying to make some money to pay for college, helps an elderly widow or couple, and goes a little bit extra by filling out the ballot, but never actually telling them how to vote beyond providing a sample ballot for them to copy, may have inadvertently committed an election offense.

Also in 2016, it was reported that Michael Cogdell had taken pictures inside the early voting site, apparently using the motion recording option. Cogdell is a county commissioner, and incidentally a Black Democrat, took his phone outside and showed the pictures to Horace Dunn (see above) and a news reporter.

There was a second election complaint in Bladen County. Kenneth Register (D) lost a district race for commissioner to a Republican. This may be the first election in the 21st, 20th, or late 19th century where a Republican had won a commissioner district in Bladen County.

Three at large seats are elected by limited voting. At the time of the 2016 primary it was noted that the Democrats had chosen their two commissioners. But at the general election Republicans won two seats, because 54% of the votes for a Democrat, were for Cogdell, while the remainder were split between two candidates. The Republicans ran two candidates and they finished 2nd and 3rd.

Register's complaint said that there had been tampering with memory sticks and also irregularities in absentee voting. Register had been nominated in the Democratic primary, defeating an incumbent Democrat by a 19 vote margin, 948:929, which was one vote outside the 1% margin needed for a recount. Register had received 93.1% of the absentee ballots, while receiving 45.3% of the in-person voting. Register was said to be supported by the Bladen Improvement Political Action Committee (see above) and two witnesses on his complaint were Michael Cogdell and Horace Munn (see above and above). Register received 65% of the absentee votes in the general election, vs. 44.3% of the in-person votes.

An affidavit from one woman said that an individual had told her that he could get some money for getting so many absentee ballots. She liked to help young people out, so she requested a ballot for herself, her forty-year-old daughter, and twin 20-year-old sons. Her daughter was not eligible for an absentee ballot because she didn't live in North Carolina, but she received three ballots. Presumably, her daughter also did not live in the same house, and perhaps had not for close to two decades. The young person persisted in coming back to collect the ballots, but she had not have a chance to fill out the ballots (plural, sic). I don't know why it never occurred to her to let her two sons fill out their own ballots.

At the hearing before the Bladen County Board of Elections, the board ruled that there was not probable cause for the alleged tampering with the memory sticks. Register replied that it was not alleged tampering, he had witnessed it himself. The board also said they could not review the allegations about absentee voting because the state board had taken jurisdiction because of the allegations in the other case.

So move forward to 2018, and the state board seizes the applications for absentee ballots the day after the election, probably before it was clear that the congressional race would be close. A Democratic member from the state board from neighboring Robeson County admits "sadly" there is a history of vote harvesting in his part of the state. Rest assured, it wasn't the Republicans who had been doing the harvesting in an extremely Democratic Party of the state. There has always been a Republican presence in the western part of the state since the Civil War, and this gradually spread to the cities (Wake voted for Ford in 1976, and Mecklenburg was only narrowly carried by Carter, but the rural eastern part of the state has been a holdout.

The only Republicans to carry Bladen County were Hoover in 1928 (Smith was Catholic and a wet); Nixon in 1972 (McGovern was a peacenik ultraliberal); Bush in 2004 (by 65 votes); and Trump in 2016. BTW, Wallace had a plurality in 1968.

The bipartisan state board unanimously voted to withhold certification of the congressional race because of

(1) Even the Republicans were embarrassed by the shenanigans in Bladen County. The Democrats gleefully went along.

or

(2) The Republicans wanted to complete the investigation so that they could embarrass Roy Cooper. The Democrats couldn't afford to quash the investigation - so they got a fig leaf of not certifying the results.

404= Fake News

[NOVA Green]

There's obviously some shifty and shady stuff going on here....

Some 30 Years back I read a book from Loompanics (Libertarian-Socialist Publisher outside of Port Townsend Washington).... called "How to Steal an Election" (or something similar).

My recollection is that the tactics used were based upon real-life techniques that the Richard Nixon campaign had used in '68 and perhaps more importantly in '72.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate the title yet, since Loompanics faced a full frontal Federal assault between '81 and '95 designed to destroy this small Independent Libertarian Publishing House...

https://www.governmentattic.org/4docs/FBI-Loompanics_1981-1995.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loompanics

This caused most of their former titles to go out of circulation and left a "rump publishing house" reduced to carrying a small sliver of their former titles, after all of the legal fees involved.

http://www.earthlightbooks.com/ci_2480.html

What is left even on places like Amazon are titles that heavily focus on Guns, and a few other items and very few of their older titles.

3_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=loompanics+unlimited&sprefix=loompanics%2Caps%2C219&crid=3711M6LJM6FCW&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aloompanics+unlimited

The point is that this style of election stealing is so extremely blatant and egregious to the point where the Nixon Administration "Old Skool" tactics appear to be such, where the local 'Pubs got caught "with their hands in the cookie jar"....

Let's wait to see the results of the official inquiries, but looks like something that has been going on for decades, and now the cheaters might have finally gotten caught.

[The Mikado]

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/606/just-what-i-wanted/act-two-0

From two years ago. Zoe Chace of TAL goes to Bladen County, NC to investigate GOP claims of Dem absentee voter fraud there.

I really want TAL to send her back down there to do the exact reverse story.

[Brittain33]

Can someone provide the Cliffs Notes version of jim's post? It looks like the explanation for fraud that caused incredible and atypical Republican results is "Democrats did something bad" but that is so confusing that I won't believe it.

[Nyvin]

Can someone provide the Cliffs Notes version of jim's post? It looks like the explanation for fraud that caused incredible and atypical Republican results is "Democrats did something bad" but that is so confusing that I won't believe it.

Pretty much.   A black Democrat goes door to door with sample ballots, take the people's ballots to the poll.   Democrats have been harvesting votes for decades, Republicans never do anything wrong....yadda yadda yadda.

[Brittain33]

Can someone provide the Cliffs Notes version of jim's post? It looks like the explanation for fraud that caused incredible and atypical Republican results is "Democrats did something bad" but that is so confusing that I won't believe it.

Pretty much.   A black Democrat goes door to door with sample ballots, take the people's ballots to the poll.   Democrats have been harvesting votes for decades, Republicans never do anything wrong....yadda yadda yadda.

Thank you for summarizing.

[President Phil Scott]

Can someone provide the Cliffs Notes version of jim's post?

Pretty much.   A black Democrat goes door to door with sample ballots, take the people's ballots to the poll.   Democrats have been harvesting votes for decades, Republicans never do anything wrong....yadda yadda yadda.

Thank you for summarizing.

.

[Sherrod Brown Shill]

If this does go to another election, what is the precedent? When would it be and would there be another primary?

[lfromnj]

The title needs to be changed to 7-2 refuses to certify

[lfromnj]

If this does go to another election, what is the precedent? When would it be and would there be another primary?

NH senate 1974 was within 10 votes  so they had a special election

[lfromnj]

btw whats everyone opinion on California's ballot harvesting. No I am not using whataboutism as this would be comparing legalized prostitution to illegal prostitution as in California it is legal.

Does anyone else feel like that should be illegal in California?

[Antonio the Sixth]

btw whats everyone opinion on California's ballot harvesting. No I am not using whataboutism as this would be comparing legalized prostitution to illegal prostitution as in California it is legal.

Does anyone else feel like that should be illegal in California?

The campaigns I've worked with collected a few ballots along the way. Nothing wrong with that as long as it's done by people who actually have an interest in making the vote count and not the opposite.

[DrScholl]

If California vote by mail ballots can be returned by anyone authorized to do so by the voter. Democrats do this with people who actually are on their voting lists, not random people and they certainly aren't out stealing the ballots of Republicans who aren't voting for Democratic candidates.

[Badger]

although the NC GOP is a complete sh**t show and I don't trust them I really wish the board was a bit more open about the situation. Most of the info we know is from journalists going directly to the county.

It's a literal criminal investigation at this point. How transparent should it be?

[new_patomic]

although the NC GOP is a complete sh**t show and I don't trust them I really wish the board was a bit more open about the situation. Most of the info we know is from journalists going directly to the county.

It's a literal criminal investigation at this point. How transparent should it be?

[SCNCmod]

One reason this is such an issue... is not only did Harris win the general by less than 1000 votes... he won the Primary by 850 votes [and Harris had close to 900 more absentee votes than Pittenger (the incumbent) in Bladen Co.]

Also- the person supposedly at the center of the vote shenanigans... worked for a different candidate in 2016.  That candidate finished 3rd in the 2016 primary... yet overwhelmingly won the absentee vote in Bladen Co.

So the issue is as much about the Primary as it is the general... equally so.

Supposedly the numbers (to a lesser extent) in neighboring Robeson Co were also affected... but for various reasons its harder to prove statistically.

[SCNCmod]

It's almost as though Republican accusations of voter fraud only serve to deflect and distract from their own efforts to fraudulently swing elections.

This was the case in 2016 imo... when the person at the center of the scandal (now and in 2016) ... was the one alleging absentee voting fraud against the Dems on behalf of McCroy (the R Governor who barely lost re-election).  So you had the person that it appears was likely committing the Fraud against Dems.... accusing Dems of committing that exact same Fraud. (This was when McCrory was trying everything to hold on to the Governorship).     ...Now, whether or not McCroy actually knew what was going on--- I have no idea.  But at the very least he had no problems of accusing Dems of something he had no proof of- or even a reason to suspect such).

[TomC]

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article222495590.html

“RALEIGH
The chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Elections has resigned, Gov. Roy Cooper’s spokesperson confirmed Saturday.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Andy Penry had stepped down as leader of the nine-person board, saying “he did not want his partisan views to undermine a widening investigation into alleged election fraud in the 9th Congressional District race.”

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article222495590.html#storylink=cpy

[Antonio the Sixth]

FFS

What's the procedure to replace him?

[Progressive Pessimist]

North Carolina: the other Florida.

Not quite. Florida fails out of pure incompetence. North Carolina always fails because the NCGOP is cartoonishly evil.

True. And to North Carolina's credit, they managed to at least elect a Democratic Governor.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

FFS

What's the procedure to replace him?

Cooper appoints someone.

[Rookie Yinzer]

Vote to certify it, Harris won fair and square.

Oh.

[Badger]

The title needs to be changed to 7-2 refuses to certify

That put was regarding holding a hearing by a certain date. The vote not to certify was in fact nine to nothing.