The Public Integrity Section of the United States Department of Justice has issued subpoenas for documents related to North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
The subpoena sent to the state’s board of election requests “all documents related to the investigation of election irregularities affecting counties within the 9th Congressional District.”
The Public Integrity Section (PIN) has “exclusive jurisdiction over allegations of criminal misconduct on the part of federal judges and also supervises the nationwide investigation and prosecution of election crimes.”
Kim Strach, the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections, issued a statement on the subpoena:
“We support the efforts of state and federal authorities to investigate and prosecute crimes against the elections process. State Board staff are compiling records responsive to the federal grand jury subpoena and are prepared to assist federal and state prosecutors in their investigations. We hope that prosecutions in these cases will help restore voters’ confidence in our elections and serve as a strong deterrent to future elections fraud.”
A grand jury subpoena as also sent to Leslie McCrae Dowless, the man at the center of the absentee ballot controversy.
Dowless was arrested and charged last month with three counts felonious obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of absentee ballots. Four other individuals connected to Dowless have also been arrested and charged.
The Harris campaign also received a subpoena, according to his personal attorney, David Freedman,
A grand jury proceeding is scheduled for April 16, 17, and 18, 2019 and the documents requested in the subpoenas are to be turned over to an FBI agent located in Cary, a suburb in Wake County.
After several days of hearings in February on the absentee ballot irregularities in the 9th Congressional District, a new election was ordered by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Filing for the new election ends Friday, March 15th, the primary is to be held May 14th and the general election will take place November 5th.
Mark Harris announced in late February that he will not run again for the seat.
“After consulting with my physicians, there are several things that my health situation requires as a result of the extremely serious condition that I faced in mid-January. One of those is a necessary surgery that is now scheduled for the last week in March,” wrote Harris in a statement.
“Given my health situation, the need to regain full strength, and the timing of this surgery the last week of March, I have decided not to file in the new election for Congressional District 9,” Harris said.
Those who have officially filed to run include Dan McCready, the Democrat who originally ran against and lost to Republican Mark Harris, as well as Stony Rushing and Fern Shubert, who are running as Republicans, and Jeffrey Scott, a Libertarian.
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A.P. Dillon is the North Carolina Bureau Chief for The Tennesee Star and a reporter at Battleground State News. Follow A.P. Dillon on Twitter. Email Tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mark Harris” by Mark Harris.
