Operative charged in N.C. congressional race

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina political operative at the center of a ballot fraud scandal was arrested today on criminal charges over activities in the 2016 elections and the Republican primary in 2018.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced that Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. was arrested after grand jury indictments alleging illegal possession of absentee ballots and obstruction of justice.

North Carolina law makes it illegal for anyone other than the voter or a close relative to handle a mail-in ballot.

Also charged were people Dowless is accused of paying in 2016 to collect ballots. The state elections board reported last year that Dowless tried to obstruct investigators by coaching his associates about what they should say if questioned.

Freeman says she's also looking into irregularities uncovered during November's general election.

Dowless, who was hired by Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris, was at the center of a ballot-harvesting operation during the 2016 election, according to evidence presented at a special state board of elections hearing.

According to findings detailed at the hearing, Dowless conducted an illegal "ballot harvesting" operation in which he and his assistants gathered up absentee ballots from voters by offering to put them in the mail.

Dowless' workers in rural Bladen County testified that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates.

The board has ordered a new election for the 9th Congressional District but hasn't set a date.