GOP operative at the center of election fraud investigation reportedly paid woman to collect ballots

[FriendlyFire]

Gaslight
Obstruct
Projection <----- we are here now

Looks like Republicans have found massive voter fraud which was used to swing an election and it was themselves all along.

GOP operative at the center of election fraud investigation reportedly paid woman to collect ballots

UPDATE: A second woman says she too was paid by the same operative. Both say they didn't mail in the ballots they collected.

But Dowless is also a well-known convict. He served a six month prison sentence in the 1990s for a felony fraud conviction, and was indicted for perjury. His criminal record stretches back to the 1980s, and he has been implicated in previous schemes to illegally collect unreturned absentee ballots, most recently in 2016.

On Monday, local television station WSOCTV caught up with Ginger Eason, one of the canvassers whose signature frequently appeared on accepted absentee ballots as a witness. She told a reporter that she was paid between $75 and $100 per week by Dowless to pick up absentee ballots from around Bladen County.

“I was helping McCrae pick up ballots,” Eason told the network.

Eason also admitted to not mailing in the absentee ballots she collected. Instead, she delivered them directly to Dowless.

The station also tracked down Dowless himself, but he refused to answer any questions about his role in the unfolding scandal.

Harris has denied any wrongdoing, and continues to demand the state’s board of elections certify the results of Election Day. The nine-member panel has thus far refused, and will conduct an evidentiary hearing in two weeks to determine how to proceed. Though rare, the state could call for a new election entirely.

https://thinkprogress.org/north-carolina-election-fraud-ballots-leslie-mccrae-dowless-c23755510bf6/

Mr. Dowless, witnesses and party officials said, helped to oversee a voter turnout operation on behalf of the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, in which canvassers collected absentee ballots directly from residents — a violation of North Carolina law. Sworn statements from voters and unusual absentee voting statistics have stoked suspicions over whether ballots were fraudulently filled out for Mr. Harris or discarded if they were for his Democratic rival, Dan McCready.

Mr. Dowless worked for a City Council candidate in Charlotte, the state’s largest city.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

 

[Estebonrober]

Gaslight
Obstruct
Projection <----- we are here now

Looks like Republicans have found massive voter fraud which was used to swing an election and it was themselves all along.

Oh the irony. Since they really don't seem to have much respect for electorate in general this is not very surprising. Many of my own family subscribe to the idea that voting shouldn't necessarily be easy, thus their respect for many voters is limited. IE welfare recipients shouldn't be able to vote themselves a raise. Or something along those lines.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

This is a direct result of the constant drumbeat about the democrats frauding it up like it's easy as falling off a chair. I actually had a comment section exchange with some idiot on Breitbarf. I told him that the whole vote fraud thing was nonsense because it just wouldn't work on any significant scale, and he gave me the "inside scoop" on the secret Democrat standard method. I told him he was off his meds, because what he was descibing was a one way ticket to jail with no possibility of anyone getting away with it. Guess what! It is exactly what these idiots got caught doing. No doubt there is some right wing echo chamber "think tank" that informed not only this idiot in NC and my idiot on Breitbarf.

BTW- a really interesting thing about this case.

The election monitoring board, which is split between Democrats and Republicans, of course, so that everybody keeps an eye on each other, initially voted unanimously to investigate this. When evidence started coming in and a real, honest to god, there's an actual case of elections fraud about to go on the books that can silence all those doubters who say it never happens situation was developing, guess which party the two commissioners who voted against going forward belonged to.

 

[Estebonrober]

This is a direct result of the constant drumbeat about the democrats frauding it up like it's easy as falling off a chair. I actually had a comment section exchange with some idiot on Breitbarf. I told him that the whole vote fraud thing was nonsense because it just wouldn't work on any significant scale, and he gave me the "inside scoop" on the secret Democrat standard method. I told him he was off his meds, because what he was descibing was a one way ticket to jail with no possibility of anyone getting away with it. Guess what! It is exactly what these idiots got caught doing. No doubt there is some right wing echo chamber "think tank" that informed not only this idiot in NC and my idiot on Breitbarf.

If all 50 Secretaries of States (most republicans themselves) can't find voter fraud of even trifling amounts by democrats then it just does';t exist. Good luck braking into the echo chamber though.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Obviously a Demoncrat Conspiracy by Hillary, Obama, Soros and Mr.Banghazi in order to smear the Republican Candidate!

 

[Berzerker]

it'd be nice if they have an election fraud 3 strikes law in NC

 

[FriendlyFire]

The election monitoring board, which is split between Democrats and Republicans, of course, so that everybody keeps an eye on each other, initially voted unanimously to investigate this. When evidence started coming in and a real, honest to god, there's an actual case of elections fraud about to go on the books that can silence all those doubters who say it never happens situation was developing, guess which party the two commissioners who voted against going forward belonged to.

Winning election > Investigating voter fraud
With the absentee ballots so skewed to the Republican candidate, even a blind, dumb and deaf would know that it was the Republicans that rigged the election.

 

[Birdjaguar]

It's part of the GOPs deficit reduction program. This time it was focused on reducing the Republican vote deficit.

Wait aren't these the guys who were up in arms about voter fraud in 2016? I think if folks look closely at this they will find a pattern and history going back a number of election cycles.

 

[Lexicus]

Since they really don't seem to have much respect for electorate in general this is not very surprising.

The political project of modern (ie, since the New Deal) conservatism is to undo political democracy in order to protect the privileges of the "opulent minority" forever. That is one reason the Republicans would be expected to have fewer scruples about interfering in elections in this way.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

it'd be nice if they have an election fraud 3 strikes law in NC

At first I didn't really get this comment. But now I've caught on.

The guy at the center of this case was also involved in the North Carolina election fraud of 2016. In that case a defeated Republican candidate for some minor local office filed a complaint with the county election board, accusing the Democrats of some sort of fraud. His complaint was rejected by the bipartisan board and he took some heat for making such an unfounded claim. Then during a media interview, in which he basically denied any responsibility for having made the false complaint in the first place with "yes I signed it but my lawyer wrote it and I don't really know what it said," the guy went on to outright confess to hiring a guy who ran a "collect absentee ballots and fill them out for you" service.

The way he confessed made it clear that he just had no idea there was anything wrong with that, and of course the media immediately informed him and everyone else it was a crime. In the ensuing media storm a whole bunch of people came forward complaining that they had never received their absentee ballots, then when they showed up to vote were told that they already had.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Oh the irony. Since they really don't seem to have much respect for electorate in general this is not very surprising. Many of my own family subscribe to the idea that voting shouldn't necessarily be easy, thus their respect for many voters is limited. IE welfare recipients shouldn't be able to vote themselves a raise. Or something along those lines.

Welfare recipients *shouldn't* be able to vote themselves a raise. It's a degenerate incentive in a system far more important than a video game. Same goes for politicians giving themselves a raise directly.

That's not particularly relevant to the voter fraud going on here though. Anybody caught pulling this nonsense needs serious consequences, I don't care which tribe they claim as their own. A good amount of jail time should do, it's not like this is a mere careless mistake and it influences a lot more people than criminal offenses that see somewhat long sentences.

 

[Lexicus]

Welfare recipients *shouldn't* be able to vote themselves a raise.

Well, thanks for letting us all know you don't believe in democracy.

 

[Peuri]

Welfare recipients *shouldn't* be able to vote themselves a raise. It's a degenerate incentive in a system far more important than a video game. Same goes for politicians giving themselves a raise directly.

Yes, I totally agree. By this logic, almost all of the working class and most of the middle class in socialist dystopias such as Sweden should be deprived of voting rights.

 

[Berzerker]

only 21+ old property owning white males could vote in most states in 1800 and the impact of their vote was very limited by the Constitution. One of the amendments disallows Congress to raise their pay in the current term, any raises would take effect with the new Congress so the voters can oust them if they deem the raise unjustified.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Yes, I totally agree. By this logic, almost all of the working class and most of the middle class in socialist dystopias such as Sweden should be deprived of voting rights.

To clarify, the most sensible threshold is whether someone is a net taxpayer. If someone isn't paying money into the system, it's awkward for them to have say where the money is going. The incentives are off.

Note that if you cut benefits to non-net taxpayers significantly, they're suddenly net payers after all and would vote accordingly, so you're still going to get some form of equilibrium. Not perfect, but better.

Historical methods similar to this aren't appropriate in modern economies/governments, but there's no need for us to be constrained to historical methods.

 

[Lexicus]

To clarify, the most sensible threshold is whether someone is a net taxpayer. If someone isn't paying money into the system, it's awkward for them to have say where the money is going. The incentives are off.

This is incoherent. Every unit of currency paid "into the system" in taxes was originally spent into existence by the government.

Historical methods similar to this aren't appropriate in modern economies/governments, but there's no need for us to be constrained to historical methods.

By all means explain what methods you would use then.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

This is incoherent. Every unit of currency paid "into the system" in taxes was originally spent into existence by the government.

Wealth is coming from somewhere. The people giving it up should be the ones who have say how it's spent. Of course not paying taxes has its own benefit. Government can't afford too many people not doing it so there will still be voters.

 

[schlaufuchs]

Wealth is coming from somewhere. The people giving it up should be the ones who have say how it's spent. Of course not paying taxes has its own benefit. Government can't afford too many people not doing it so there will still be voters.

The taxes aren't the wealth though.

And what happens when the people paying the taxes vote that anybody who isn't paying taxes should also not be paid for any work they do. Or that labor protections shouldn't apply to them.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

The taxes aren't the wealth though.

Let's see a government operate without them.

 

[Lexicus]

Wealth is coming from somewhere. The people giving it up should be the ones who have say how it's spent. Of course not paying taxes has its own benefit. Government can't afford too many people not doing it so there will still be voters.

"Wealth" is indeed coming from somewhere. The idea that people who are not net taxpayers are, by definition, not creators of wealth is facially absurd.

And morally, the idea that only the creators of wealth should get to have a say in government is repugnant.