N.C. election officials sounded alarm about alleged election fraud to federal prosecutors in January

Source: Washington Post

Politics

N.C. election officials sounded alarm about alleged election fraud to federal prosecutors in January 2017

By Amy Gardner and Beth Reinhard
December 21 at 12:16 PM

North Carolina state election officials told federal prosecutors in January 2017 that they found evidence of efforts to manipulate the absentee ballot vote in rural Bladen County in the 2016 election and warned that such activities “will likely continue for future elections” if not addressed, according to correspondence obtained Friday by The Washington Post.

In a Jan. 30, 2017, letter addressed to then-U.S. Attorney John Bruce of the Eastern District of North Carolina, Kim Strach, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, said the agency had conducted a “lengthy investigation” of alleged absentee ballot fraud in Bladen County.

“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. “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 letter raises fresh questions about whether federal investigators took any actions to scrutinize the complaints. ... Similar charges have roiled this year’s race in the 9th Congressional District between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready. Harris defeated McCready by just 905 votes, but the state board declined to certify the results amid allegations that fraud may have tainted the outcome.
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Alice Crites and Eddy Palanzo contributed to this report.

Amy Gardner joined The Washington Post in 2005. She has worked stints in the Virginia suburbs, covered the 2010 midterms and the tea party revolution, and covered the Republican presidential nominating contest in 2011-2012. She was a politics editor for five years and returned to reporting in 2018. Follow https://twitter.com/AmyEGardner

Beth Reinhard is a reporter on the investigative team at The Washington Post. She previously worked at the Wall Street Journal, National Journal, the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post. Follow https://twitter.com/bethreinhard

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nc-election-officials-sounded-alarm-about-alleged-election-fraud-to-federal-prosecutors-in-january-2017/2018/12/21/240e09a0-0539-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html

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BREAKING via @amyegardner @bethreinhard: N.C. election officials sounded alarm about alleged election fraud to federal prosecutors in January 2017

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