WASHINGTON _ The chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party said if early vote totals in Bladen County were leaked before Election Day, "this fact alone would likely require a new election" in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.
The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer reported Monday that early voting totals from Bladen County may have been leaked. Documents released by the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement show that early voting tabulations were run several days before the Nov. 6 election in Bladen County. A witness who signed that vote tabulation wrote in a sworn affidavit that the totals were "viewed by officials at the one-stop site who were not judges."
"This action by election officials would be a fundamental violation of the sense of fair play, honesty and integrity that the Republican Party stands for. We can never tolerate the state putting its thumb on the scale. The people involved in this must be held accountable and should it be true, this fact alone would likely require a new election," Robin Hayes, the North Carolina GOP's chairman, in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.
Dallas Woodhouse, the party's executive director, told The News & Observer that "we're pretty confident" the results were leaked.
"Accessing early vote totals before the overall results are final can clearly give an unfair advantage to one candidate over the other. The security and confidentiality of the early vote has concerned the party for years," Hayes said in a statement.
The state board is investigating voter irregularities in the 9th District. Republican Mark Harris topped Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes, but the board has yet to certify the election amid allegations of fraud with mail-in absentee ballots. The board plans to hold a hearing before Dec. 21.
The state board has issued subpoenas to the Harris campaign, Harris' consulting firm Red Dome Group and the campaign of Sheriff Jim McVicker. The board has identified McCrae Dowless, who was paid by Red Dome Group, as a person of interest in its investigation. Dowless has been accused in affidavits and in media interviews of paying workers to collect absentee ballots in Bladen County.
The board has the authority to order a new election.
In the event of a new election, Hayes said "the professionals at the State Board of Elections must assume control of the county board of elections operations in Bladen County, which has shown itself incapable of managing fair elections."
The current investigation is, at least, the fifth investigation into Bladen County elections since 2010.
Jens Lutz, the vice chair of the Bladen County Board of Elections, resigned Friday. Lutz is a Democrat.
"This, and the resignation of (Lutz) after the inquiry began, further represents the systematic failure of the election process in this area of the state going on for at least the last decade," Hayes said.
