Video coverage of 9th District hearing into alleged election fraud

The State Board of Elections opens a hearing into allegations of fraud in the 9th Congressional District election, and Lisa Britt, who worked for Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless on Republican Mark Harrs' campaign, discusses an operation to solicit and collect absentee ballots.

Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless refuses to testify in the State Board of Elections' hearing into allegations of fraud in the 9th Congressional District election because the board won't grant him immunity from prosecution for anything he says. Dowless worker Lisa Britt details an operation to collect absentee ballots.

State Elections Director Kim Strach says an investigation has found a "coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme" in Bladen and Robeson counties in the 2018 election, run by Mark Harris operative McCrae Dowless.

Lisa Britt, who worked for Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless on Republican Mark Harris' 9th Congressional District campaign, acknowledges she voted in the 2018 election despite being on probation for a felony conviction, which would make her ineligible to vote.

Lisa Britt says she filled out an absentee ballot request form for a Bladenboro man based on his previous voting information. But the man had since died, and someone else signed the form before political operative McCrae Dowless submitted it to local elections officials.

Lisa Britt says she and others working for Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless on Mark Harris' 9th Congressional District campaign sometimess filled out absentee ballots so elections officials wouldn't be suspicious of numerous ballots where voters only filled out a few races.

Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris was "completely clueless" that a man hired by his campaign was illegally collecting and filling out absentee ballots, according to a woman who was part of the operation.

Lisa Britt says Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless instructed her not to testify in a state investigation into alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election and to assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Lisa Britt says she knew filling out other people's ballots was wrong, but she and others were just doing their jobs while working for Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless.

Lisa Britt said she didn't think Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless "would send me out to do something illegal" by collecting and filling out absentee ballots in the 9th Congressional District campaign.

Sandra Dowless says she heard her ex-husband, Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless, tell Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris that he knew Harris was ahead in absentee voting because he knew who had voted.

Kimberly Robinson says she gave her blank absentee ballot to two women who worked for Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless, figuring it would get filled out and submitted.

Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless, who worked for Republican Mark Harris' 9th Congressional District campaign, refuses to testify during a State Board of Elections investigation into alleged absentee ballot fraud because officials won't grant him immunity.

Bladen County poll workers testify on the second day of the State Board of Elections' hearing into alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

Bladen County poll workers and Andy Yates of Red Dome Group, a campaign consultant for Republican Mark Harris, testify on the second day of the State Board of Elections' hearing on alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

Political consultant Andy Yates testifies on the second day of the State Board of Elections' hearing on alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

Bladen County poll official Michele Maultsby says she knows nothing of totals from early voting in the 2018 election being leaked prematurely.

State Elections Director Kim Strach tells Bladen County poll worker Mitchell Edwards he's not supposed to tabulate early voting totals at the end of every shift.

Bladen County poll worker Mitchell Edwards says when he went to sign the tabulation of early voting results last fall, he happened to see the results of the local sheriff's race.

Bladen County poll worker Agnes Willis said several poll workers improperly looked at the results of early voting in the local sheriff's race after one worker exclaimed, "Oh, my God. I thought the black guy had it."

State Board of Elections attorney Josh Lawson rolls out a tabulation machine tape showing early voting results in Bladen County so that poll worker Agnes Willis can recall exactly what she saw last November.

Political consultant Andy Yates of Red Dome Group says he initially had no suspicions about Bladen County operative McCrae Dowless' absentee ballot efforts on behalf of 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris.

Andy Yates, a political consultant for Mark Harris' 9th Congressional District campaign, says operative McCrae Dowless hated the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC, calling the group crooked.

Red Dome political consultant Andy Yates says Bladen County operative McCrae Dowless lied to him about the extent of his absentee ballot efforts on behalf of 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris.

Red Dome political consultant Andy Yates says he would have told congressional candidate Mark Harris to cut ties with Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless if he had known Dowless had been convicted of fraud and perjury.

Red Dome political consultant Andy Yates says state and national Republican Party groups never informed congressional candidate Mark Harris' 9th Congressional District campaign about questions surrounding the absentee ballot efforts of McCrae Dowless, an operative the campaign, was using.

Political consultant Andy Yates testifies on the third day of the State Board of Elections' hearing on alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

Candidate Mark Harris' son, John Harris, testifies on the third day of the State Board of Elections' hearing on alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

Political operative McCrae Dowless sometimes got inside information from Bladen County elections officials and would initial absentee ballot request forms so he could be alerted if there were any problems, according to political consultant Andy Yates of Red Dome Group.

Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris told campaign consultant Andy Yates of Red Dome Group that he thought Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless was treated unfairly in the media during early stages of a state investigation into alleged absentee ballot fraud.

Alex Dale, an attorney for Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, and campaign consultant Andy Yates of Red Dome Group agree that Harris would have won the race without a single absentee vote in Bladen and Robeson counties.

Lawyers for 9th Congressional District candidates argue over campaign finance reports and a suggestion that anyone paid by a political organization in Bladen County was illegally collecting absentee ballots.

Political consultant Andy Yates of Red Dome Group says Bladen County elections officials should have suspected McCrae Dowless of illegal activity in his absentee ballot operations, but he doesn't necessarily think that anyone with 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris' campaign should have known.

Based on the amount McCrae Dowless was paid by Andy Yates and Red Dome Group, a consultant for Mark Harris' congressional campaign, and the number of absentee ballot requests Dowless delivered, the State Board of Elections says he was paid about $51 per request instead of the $4 he had agreed to.

John Harris says he told his father, 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, that he found Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless to be a "shady character." John Harris was an unexpected witness during the State Board of Elections' hearing into potential absentee ballot fraud in North Carolina's 9th District race.

John Harris, the son of 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, says he analyzed absentee ballot information in 2016 and found they were being submitted in batches in Bladen County.

John Harris sent an email to his father, 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, warning him that collecting absentee ballots is a felony because he believed Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless' absentee ballot operation was illegal.

John Harris said his father, 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, and his mother tried to find explanations for all of John Harris' concerns over Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless' absentee ballot effort in the 9th Congressional District campaign.

John Harris, the son of 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, says he wished he had pushed his father and campaign consultant Andy Yates of Red Dome Group to ask more questions about a suspicious absentee ballot operation run by McCrae Dowless.

John Harris, the son of 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris, makes an impassioned plea to "transend partisan politics" and end tactics like a suspicious absentee ballot operation to win an election. "I love my dad and I love my mom," John Harris testified, choking back his emotions. "I have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle."

Republican Mark Harris testifies the State Board of Elections' investigation into alleged fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

The State Board of Elections orders a new election in the 9th Congressional District after Republican Mark Harris halts his testimony in the board's investigation into alleged fraud in the 9th District race and agrees a new election is needed.

State elections officials say Republican Mark Harris' campaign failed to turn subpoenaed documents over in the investigation of absentee ballot fraud in the 9th Congressional District election.

Republican Mark Harris recounts his first meeting with Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless and learning how Dowless boosted absentee ballot results in the 9th Congressional District.

Republican Mark Harris says the opinions of Bladen County politicos outweighed his son's concerns when it came to hiring operative McCrae Dowless for an absentee ballot operation in the county.

Mark Harris says he didn't know his congressional campaign paid Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless as much as it did or that that there was practically no documentation given to campaign consultant Red Dome Group to support the expenses.

Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless told Republican Mark Harris that a state investigation into absentee ballots cast in the 9th Congressional District election was politically motivated.

State elections board member Jeff Carmon questions Republican 9th Congressional District candidate Mark Harris on why he ignored his son's repeated warnings and hired political operative McCrae Dowless, who Harris' son suspected of employing questionable absentee ballot tactics.

Republican Mark Harris agrees that a new election is needed in the 9th Congressional District because fraudulent activity by a campaign worker has undermined public confidence in the results of the November election.

Marc Elias, an attorney for Democratic congressional candidate Dan McCready, asks the state elections board for "adverse inferences" against Republican Mark Harris, his campaign and political operative McCrae Dowless for actions in the 9th Congressional District election.

The State Board of Elections unanimously voted to order a new election in the 9th Congressional District after several days of testimony in Raleigh, and after Republican Mark Harris, the presumed winner, said there was enough evidence to warrant a new election.