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North Carolina investigators describe “unlawful” ballot tampering scheme in House election
A state hearing finally brings some clarity to the explosive election fraud scandal.

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The Republican in the country's last undecided congressional election testified Thursday that a political operative now accused of ballot fraud assured him "again and again" that he wouldn't collect absentee ballots in violation of state law.

GOP congressional candidate Mark Harris described during a special state elections board hearing how he accepted the word of political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless that he was able to get results for candidates because of his relationships in rural Bladen County.

Harris said he met with Dowless in person before hiring him and came away thinking the operative used a labor-intensive process to convince people to request and send mail-in ballots. He said Dowless assured him his operatives would never touch the completed absentee ballots.

"I'll never forget. He said it again and again. He said: We do not take the ballot," Harris testified. He was "convinced that it all comes down to relationships."

Harris said after a single meeting he believed Dowless and local GOP political leaders that Dowless' methods were legal. That was despite repeated warnings from his son that data showed the operative was likely crossing legal lines and exposing ballots to potential manipulation. Harris said he never investigated further and never checked whether the results Dowless claimed to be delivering were real.

A Harris text message revealed Thursday from March 2017 indicated he wanted a local political ally to introduce him to Dowless because had Dowless worked on Harris' unsuccessful 2016 primary campaign it "could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us."

Lawyers for Harris have argued in legal briefs that the board should certify his November victory and send him to Washington. Democrat Dan McCready's lawyers contend the race was tainted and a new election should be ordered.

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The North Carolina Board of Elections unanimously ordered a new election after an evidentiary hearing addressing allegations of election fraud in the U.S. House District 9 race.

The decision came after Republican Mark Harris called for a new election himself after facing hours of questions on Thursday.