Affidavit: Man at center of 9th District investigation had hundreds of ballots
A Robeson County man swore Tuesday that he saw the man at the heart of an investigation that may force a new congressional election with more than 800 absentee ballots.
Kenneth Simmons said in a signed affidavit that he and his wife saw McCrae Dowless with the trove of ballots, which would be a felony. Simmons signed the affidavit Tuesday in front of a reporter for WECT News, the station reported. WECT was the first to report the development.
Simmons statement was as follows:
"During the campaign, my wife and I were working putting out signs for a local candidate. While we were in Dublin attending a meeting of Republicans, we spoke with McRae (sic) Dowless. During the conversation, we noticed that Mr. Dowless had in his possession a large number of absentee ballots. I questioned his reason for having that many ballots. He stated that he had over 800 ballots in his possession. I asked him why he had not turned them in. He sated (sic) you don't do that until the last day because the opposition would know how many votes they had to make up. My concern was that these ballots were not going to be turned in."