The political operative at the heart of the ballot-harvesting scandal that derailed a North Carolina congressional election was hit with Wednesday with criminal charges.
A grand jury in Wake County, North Carolina, handed down a seven-count criminal indictment against Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., who ran a ballot-harvesting scheme for the campaign of Republican Mark Harris.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced the charges, which included obstruction and illegal ballot possession related to the 2016 and 2018 elections.
The scandal prevented election officials from certifying Nov. 6 results in the 9th Congressional District that showed Mr. Harris beating Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes. And last week, after a four-day hearing detailing the ballot-harvesting scheme, the State Board of Elections ordered an election redo.
Mr. Dowless didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail message The Associated Press left on his cell phone. A woman who answered the phone at his lawyer’s office hung up.
The 9th District seat has been empty since the new Congress convened Jan. 3 and it likely will remain that way for most of the year pending a new primary and general election.
Mr. Dowless, a longtime political operative in the state, is facing charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and possess of absentee ballots.
In North Carolina, it is illegal for a voter’s absentee ballot to be handled by anyone other than a close relative or appointed guardian.
Evidence showed Mr. Dowless hired workers to collect absentee ballots and in some cases filled in ballots. Other ballots were unsealed when they arrived at the polls, according to testimony at the hearing.
Mr. Harris announced Tuesday that he will not run in the new election. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, also said he won’t run.
Mr. McCready enters the primary as the presumptive frontrunner with enough clout to clear the field.
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