North Carolina Likely to Hold a New Election for U.S. House, 9th District

North Carolina will probably hold a new election for the U.S. House, 9th district, soon.  The original election lacks credibility because it appears that 800 absentee ballots were in the hands of a partisan individual who was not legally permitted to have custody of the ballots.

A bill in the legislature had a provision for a new primary election as well, but that part of the bill was deleted on December 12.  Therefore, the same three party nominees will again run against each other in the new election.  They are Republican Mark Harris, Democrat Dan McCready, and Libertarian Jeff Scott.

Also on December 12, a North Carolina state court extended the life of the State Board of Elections to December 28, on the assumption that the legislature will soon pass a bill re-constituting the Board.  The existing Board’s composition was ruled invalid earlier, but the state court wants to give the legislature more time to re-do the board.



Comments

North Carolina Likely to Hold a New Election for U.S. House, 9th District — 11 Comments

  1. All more ammo for the USA minority rule gerrymander Congress to wipe out all State election laws – esp for USA regime HACKS.

    Welcome to the USA Banana Republic

    — due to multiple FATAL defects in the 1787 USA Const — esp. regarding elections.

    PR and AppV

  2. Where is that MODEL ELECTION LAW since 1776 ???

    — written by armies of lawyer, poli-sci and math profs

    — with a mega-appendix of ALL YES/NO flow chart steps in the election system.

    REAL Democracy Elections are MATH events.

  3. Ballot harvesting? If that’s the case, what about what happened in 7 districts where the republican candidates were leading on election nights and then two weeks later they lost? Why this selective outrage for electoral fraud, when instead it should be for all?

  4. NC is one of the top 5-10 gerrymander States quite possible for starting Civil WAR II.

    ABOLISH the ANTI-Democracy minority rule USA Senate.

    Divide larger States – more communist and fascist regimes.

    See which survive.

    IE — should have been 2-3 black States created during/after Civil War I – VA- MS- E. Texas.

    — to see if they could survive.

  5. The California law permits anyone to deliver a voted absentee ballot to a polling place. But the North Carolina law forbids it for most people. Also one guy in North Carolina had 700 or so voted absentee ballots in his possession.

  6. US Postal snail mail still exists — delivery to and from Elector-Voter addresses ???

    Oregon continues to survive — ALL mail secret ballots — for about 15 plus years.

  7. I think it is more likely he had 800 absentee ballot application (or claimed to). They might not even have been completed. The Democrats use applications that are pre-printed with voter names and addresses. The voter just has to sign the application and let the campaign worker deliver it to the county elections board. The county board of elections then mails out the ballot to the voter.

    This occurred weeks before the primary election last May

    In North Carolina, an absentee ballot has to be witnessed by two adults (or one notary). The witness(es) are to ensure that it was the voter who marked the ballot, but not how the voter voted. The voter (or a relative) are expected to hand-carry the ballot to the county election board, or the ballot is to be mailed.

    It appears that it is common for campaigns to assist the voters by taking ballots to the post office to be mailed. North Carolina does not use carrier envelopes, so all the information about witnesses AND the voters signature are available for photocopying during an election. In Texas, there are two envelopes, so a mailman or anyone else can’t tell who voted. The inner envelope is signed across the seal, so there is some assurance that the voter actually put the voted ballot in the envelope. After verifying the voter, the ballot can be pulled and placed in a ballot box to be counted.

    A voter may also be assisted. A voter who has vision or language or motor disabilities may need assistance reading or marking a ballot. The assistant is supposed to act at the direction of the voter. The voter gets to decide whether he needs assistance and who the assistant is. At a public polling site, assistance may be observed. In Texas, an assistant takes an oath swearing to their duties as an assistant. In North Carolina, an assistant for an absented is also expected to sign the ballot envelope.

    In 2016, it was noticed that a write-in candidate favored by a Democratic group had received many write-ins on absentee ballots that appeared to be written in a similar handwriting style. This was on a downballot (29th race) for an obscure non-partisan office. A leader of the Democratic group suggested that perhaps a witness had not realized that they needed to sign as an assistant, even if they hadn’t done the bubbles.

    So the process works like this. A campaign identifies voters who are likely to support the candidates supported by the campaign. They encourage these voters to actually vote. They might provide rides to the polls, or mail or phone or email the voter, encouraging them to vote. Barack Obama has famously referred to “Cousin Pookie” who hasn’t voted in five elections, and may need some prodding to get off the couch.

    If you can’t get Cousin Pookie to actually go to the polls, you may be able to get him to vote absentee, and he doesn’t even have to get off the couch. You take an absentee ballot application to him. You can even include a voter registration form. You deliver the application to the election officials who mail the ballot to the voter. You then go check on whether Pookie has received the ballot. You probably have to explain how to vote, and provide him a pen. You also hand him a sample ballot with suggestions. You explain that he needs two witnesses. Someone who hasn’t voted often is unlikely to reject the offer of the would-be witness. So in theory, the witnesses are supposed to just observe the voter marks the ballot, but not who they vote for. But if they have helped a voter, perhaps by unfolding the ballot and providing a pen and a sample ballot, can it really be said that they are just witnessing? “I saw him glancing at the sample ballot, but I don’t know whether he was copying or not, I was sitting across the table (or room) and so everything was upside to me.” And then, “I may have told him to vote for every office, or perhaps he just read the suggestion on the sample ballot. Some Democrats don’t realize that they can vote for non-partisan offices. Some voters don’t know how to do a write-in, or they may not write real legible – that’s important since if the election officials can’t read it, or the name is misspelled, it won’t count. Some voters asked me to help. I’d ask what name to write in, and they might say something like ‘the name on this yellow sheet (the sample ballot)’. I didn’t realize I was assisting the voter, since I just witnessed that he had skipped the write-in vote.”

    The witness should then observe that the voter had put the ballot in the envelope. The voter checks the box that there were two witnesses or the box that said that the single witness was a notary, and signs the ballot envelope. The witnesses then fill in their name and address and sign as witnesses. If there is an assistant, they would also sign.

    There is approximately zero chance that a voter would understand this process and complete it alone, other than having the witnesses observe from across the room.

    The voter (or relative) then may take the ballot envelope to county election officials or mail it. They would need a stamp, and make a trip to the post office. If I did not have a car, I would have to have someone mail a letter for me. It is about two miles to the post office. It is not obvious that it is illegal for someone to provide assistance in mailing a letter. You can drive a voter to the pools – why can’t someone drive a sealed ballot to the post office?

    If absentee ballot applications are filled out in advance, then it would not be unusual to have a list of many potential voters. You could go help some voters apply for an absentee ballot and then turn in the completed applications and then a couple of days later help the voter with witnesses. It is probably easier to do it in batches. Since the signatures on the return ballot labels are dated, and they are date-stamped when received by the county board of elections, it should not be too much effort to check for too long a gap on lots of ballots.

  8. @DR,

    It is two miles to my nearest place to mail a letter. If it is after hours, the deposit box is in an isolated area away from any buildings. The nearest voting palace is much closer, and I may interact with my fellow citizens while waiting to participate in mass democracy.

  9. I believe postal snail folks are REQUIRED to pick up mail [at least first class letter mail) when they delver mail.

    NO catchee FLU (or worse) in those mass meetings in over-heated places – esp bars / drug houses.

    Oregon continues to survive — ALL mail secret ballots — for about 15 plus years.

    ANY olde rotary phones still around ???

  10. @DR,

    Where is the carrier going to pick the mail up from?

    In Washingon, at a college they had to give out stamps, and had to provide a special collection box for students who had a voting residence elsewhere. The students literally did not know how to mail a letter.

    Please Uncle Demo Rep tell us about what you did before snapchat?

  11. The North Carolina court had stayed their decision until the state board had certified the elevtions. Since they haven’t yet certified all the results, the court has extended their stay. When the Democrat board member made his motion for a board hearing, he added in the weasal words “as then constituted”, which would permit Cooper’s 3:2 majority to rule in favor of the Democrat.

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