New NC House election set Sept. 10

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina officials set a Sept. 10 date for a new election for the nation's last unresolved congressional race after the November results were thrown out over concerns of ballot tampering. Parties will hold their primaries May 14.

The state elections board determined a new election was needed in the 9th congressional district after hearing days of evidence tending to show a political operative working for Republican candidate Mark Harris hired people to collect mail-in ballots, which would have made votes vulnerable to being changed or discarded. North Carolina law prohibits anyone other than a voter or immediate family member from handling a mail-in ballot.

If no candidate gets at least 30 percent of the votes in the May primary, a second primary will be held Sept. 10 and the general election will take place Nov. 5, the board decided Monday.

The extended timetable was required to allow enough time for absentee ballots to be requested and mailed back, including by military members and their families who may be stationed abroad but who live in the 9th District near the Army's Fort Bragg, elections board chairman Robert Cordle said.

"I'm just sorry it takes so long to have these elections, because everybody would like to get it over with as soon as we can," he said.

Harris had narrowly led Democrat Dan McCready, but the elections board refused to certify November's results pending an investigation. McCready is running again in the new election. Harris isn't, citing health problems.

The operative Harris sought out and lined up ahead of his 2018 Republican primary, Leslie McCrae Dowless, was charged last week with seven low-level felonies, including ballot possession and obstruction of justice. The charges are connected to Dowless' work for Harris in the 2018 Republican primary, for 9th District congressional candidate Todd Johnson in the 2016 primary and other work he did in the 2016 general election.

Prosecutors are still investigating evidence of ballot tampering by Dowless and others during the November election for the 9th District, which includes part of Charlotte and extends eastward across several counties.

Harris has not been charged with a crime and has denied knowledge of any illegal practices by those involved with his campaign. But he could come under scrutiny: He admitted in last month's board meeting to writing personal checks to Dowless in 2017, a potential violation if the payments weren't reported.