NC Elections Officials asked Fed/State DOJ to Open Fraud Case Last Year, Neither Acted

RALEIGH – With all eyes still on the 9th Congressional District of North Carolina, reporting from the Associated Press indicates that the N.C. State Board of Elections tried to get federal and state prosecutors to criminally charge the man at the center of the fraud allegations sparking chaos across the district.

Neither the Fed, or the N.C. Department of Justice under Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein, followed through on those charges. And here we are in 2018 with a mess on our hands that very well may have been prevented.

“N.C. Board of Elections Executive Director Kim Strach warned in a January 2017 letter obtained by The Associated Press that those involved in illegally harvesting absentee ballots in rural Bladen County would likely do it again if they weren’t prosecuted. Josh Lawson, the top lawyer for the elections board, said Friday that Strach’s memo was followed less than a month later with the first of several in-person meetings during which state investigators provided FBI agents and federal prosecutors with evidence accusing Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. and others of criminal activity. 

“Our findings to date suggest that individuals and potentially groups of individuals engaged in efforts to manipulate election results through the absentee ballot process,” Strach wrote in the letter. “The evidence we have obtained suggest that these efforts may have taken place in the past and if not addressed will likely continue for future elections.””

The DOJ under the incoming Trump administration did not pursue those charges, but did take up cases related to an operation facilitating illegal aliens voting on our elections. The US DOJ has a lot on its plate nearly all the time, still they dropped the ball in this.

The N.C. DOJ’s neglect to press charges and out a stop to the ballot harvesting by Dowless makes less sense. State Attorney General Josh Stein, a Cooper protogé, went on the record just earlier this year warning against rampant fraud in absentee ballots, but he did nothing when the Board pleaded with his office to actually address the issue? The comments came during panel review of and public comment on the proposed Constitutional Amendments, specifically the Voter ID bill.

He seemed certain about absentee ballot fraud activities, but even then (August 2018), letters were essentially sitting on his desk to indict Dowless.

“After federal prosecutors took no action, documents show the elections board referred the case to state prosecutors in January 2018. No charges were filed before the 2018 election, which was marred by voting irregularities involving absentee ballots cast in Bladen and two neighboring counties. Authorities say Dowless is the subject of an investigation into those irregularities.

“Our role is to investigate matters … and to refer matters to prosecutors and law enforcement officials to carry out their responsibility,” said Malcolm, a Democrat. “We don’t control what happens once we make a referral.””

Much is being made of the Feds lack of response to these referrals, but the Left and their friends in the media are reluctant to approach the fumbles of Democrat Josh Stein with the same accusatory tone. The question remains, however, if Stein was so concerned with absentee ballot fraud, why did he standby and do nothing as officials begged his department to do something about it?

Read more from AP here.