(Reuters) - A North Carolina judge on Tuesday rejected Republican Mark Harris’ bid to be certified as the winner of a congressional vote at the center of an election fraud investigation, saying doing so would be a “dramatic intervention.”

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump greets Mark Harris, Republican candidate from North Carolina's 9th Congressional district, in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Harris claimed victory over Democrat Dan McCready, after initial results of the November election showed he had won the Ninth Congressional District race by 905 votes. Harris filed a petition earlier this month to certify the results of the vote.

Judge Paul Ridgeway said at a hearing in Raleigh, North Carolina, that it would be premature for him to intervene before the state elections board finished its investigation.

“Certification is not appropriate until the investigation into the protest is concluded by final decision,” the judge said, noting “it would be highly unusual for this court to step in.”

Since the election, residents of rural Bladen County have stated in affidavits that people had come to their homes and collected incomplete absentee ballots. It is illegal in North Carolina for a third party to turn in absentee ballots.

The State Board of Elections was to hold a hearing on Jan. 11 as part of its probe into possible election fraud involving the collection of absentee ballots. But Republicans refused to participate in the creation of an interim election board, which has left the race in limbo.

Lawyers for McCready and the state elections board told the judge on Tuesday that completion of the investigation was necessary because it could reveal evidence that calls into question the results of the vote.

Lawyers for Harris urged the judge to certify Harris as the district’s new congressman, saying there was nothing to contradict him as the winner and residents needed representation in Washington.

Neither candidate attended Tuesday’s hearing. Harris’ campaign said he was dealing with an illness.

A new state elections board will go into effect on Jan. 31. Board members will be able to call for an evidentiary hearing and could order a new vote. The U.S. House of Representatives also could rule on the election outcome.

“We are pleased that Harris’ frivolous request has been denied and that North Carolina can get back to investigating allegations of systematic electoral fraud committed on behalf of Harris’ campaign,” Wayne Goodwin, North Carolina’s Democratic Party chairman, said in a statement.

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes said in a statement he was confident Harris would eventually be seated. </s> Republican candidate Mark Harris on Thursday called for new election in the North Carolina disputed House race.

Harris' request for a new election came after several days of a state Board of Elections hearing that is seeking to determine whether there was misconduct with mail-in ballots in the state's 9th congressional district. Harris testified Thursday morning that he had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activities of a political operative hired by his campaign.

This is a developing story; check back for updates. </s> (Reuters) - North Carolina’s elections board on Thursday unanimously ordered a new election for a U.S. House seat after officials said corruption surrounding absentee ballots tainted the results of last November’s vote.

The bipartisan board’s 5-0 decision came after Republican candidate Mark Harris requested a new vote, telling the panel that evidence of possible ballot fraud had undermined confidence in the election.

In the televised hearing, board members said “corruption” and the “absolute mess with the absentee ballots” had cast doubt on the fairness of the contest and voters deserved a fresh election.

Harris’ request for a new vote came as a surprise. For months, he had said he should be declared the victor in the 9th Congressional District after he led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast on Nov. 6. Elections officials, however, had refused to certify him as the winner due to allegations of irregularities in the vote.

“Through the testimony I’ve listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called,” Harris said at a hearing in Raleigh. “It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th district seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.”

Harris’ statement came on the fourth day of a hearing on whether his campaign benefited from what state investigators called illegal election manipulation by political consultant Leslie McCrae Dowless.

Earlier on Thursday, Harris said he had known Dowless was going door to door on the candidate’s behalf to help voters obtain absentee ballots, a process that is legal. Harris said Dowless assured him he would not collect the ballots from the voters, which would violate state law.

But residents of at least two counties in the district said Dowless and his paid workers collected incomplete absentee ballots and, in some instances, falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for contests left blank, according to testimony at the hearing.

Kim Strach, executive director of the state’s election board, earlier this week called the operation a “coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme.”

According to text messages Harris’ attorneys turned over to the board on Thursday, Harris sought a meeting with Dowless when he learned that Dowless had led a successful absentee ballot program for Republican candidate Todd Johnson during a 2016 congressional primary election.

In those messages to a Bladen County judge, Harris asked about “the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us.”

Harris campaign officials have said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless has maintained his innocence. </s> New Election Called In North Carolina House Race

Enlarge this image toggle caption Travis Long/Pool/News & Observer Travis Long/Pool/News & Observer

Updated at 5:16 p.m. ET

After months of insisting that he knew of no illegal activity being done on behalf of his campaign, Republican Mark Harris, who leads the race for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, called Thursday for the State Board of Elections to hold a new election.

Shortly afterward, the bipartisan state board voted unanimously to redo the only congressional race left from the 2018 midterm elections that remains undecided.

"Through the testimony I've listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called. It's become clear to me that the public's confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted," said Harris.

It was a dramatic and humbling reversal for Harris, a pastor who until now had insisted that the elections board certify his 905-vote lead over Democrat Dan McCready in the unofficial tally so that he could take a seat in Congress.

Four days of hearings had left that position increasingly untenable as witnesses detailed how an operative hired by Harris illegally handled absentee ballots, a felony in North Carolina. One witness said she filled in unmarked sections of ballots. Harris' own son testified on Wednesday that he had warned his father that the operative's tactics were likely illegal.

An email first released to the public on Thursday shows that Harris requested a meeting with the operative, McCrae Dowless, in March 2017 after losing a primary election in which one of his opponents had hired Dowless.

The disclosure by the Harris campaign frustrated investigators, who were presented with the evidence only on Wednesday, despite a subpoena from the North Carolina State Board of Elections for the relevant documents months ago.

A "shady character"

In December, the board declined to certify the results of the election. Instead it voted to open an investigation into an absentee ballot scheme that investigators have now been unspooling for months. Election board staff said that the investigation will continue even as preparations are made for a new race.

The investigation focuses on Dowless, who was hired by Harris to run get-out-the-vote efforts in Bladen and Robeson counties. Dowless was also investigated in 2016 for his tactics, which a number of witnesses have testified included illegally collecting absentee ballots and filling out some of those ballots.

Harris has said publicly since the investigation began in December that he was unaware of any illegal acts that may have been done on behalf of his campaign. He reiterated that in his testimony Thursday.

"He said we do not take the ballot," Harris said, describing what Dowless told him. " 'I don't care if it's a 95-year-old woman in a wheelchair. We do not take the ballots.' "

The email produced by the attorney representing Harris' campaign showed Harris reaching out to former judge Marion Warren about procuring Dowless' help. Dowless worked for another candidate, Todd Johnson, who nearly swept Bladen County's absentee ballot totals in 2016, and Harris refers to that victory in his email.

"On the other issue of your gracious offer to meet me in Bladen County and spend a day connecting me to the 'key people' that can help me carry that part of the county in a future US House NC-9 race," Harris wrote to Warren on March 8, 2017. "You know the political and financial connections better than anyone else I would know, including the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us."

But Harris' son, John Harris, testified Wednesday that he warned his father that he thought Dowless was a "shady character" who likely engaged in illegal practices as part of his operation.

John Harris says he reviewed the absentee ballot results of the 2016 race and concluded that Dowless was using illegal tactics to help Johnson. During Wednesday's hearing, John Harris said he warned his father about this but that Mark Harris still hired Dowless.

Mark Harris was pressed about those warnings Thursday.

"It was painfully clear that he was saying, 'Daddy, don't mess with this guy,' " said elections board member Jeff Carmon. "That was your son, with no ax to grind, that wanted to make sure you were protected."

Mark Harris said he never raised his son's concerns with Dowless.

He also said that he disregarded the warnings because his son was only 27 years old and had never been to Bladen County, whereas he had sat down with Dowless and had heard his guarantees that he wasn't mishandling ballots.

New election details

The elections board will hold a public hearing soon to decide the timing of the new election.

McCready, the Democrat who ran against Harris, said the decision Thursday was "a great step forward for democracy in North Carolina."

"From the moment the first vote was stolen in North Carolina, from the moment the first voice was silenced by election fraud, the people have deserved justice," McCready tweeted.

The new race won't be a rerun of last November's contest. There will be primary elections to determine each party's candidates and then a new general election, in accordance with North Carolina law.

A spokesperson for the State Board of Elections said the board will likely schedule the election to coincide with the special election needed to fill the vacancy of Rep. Walter Jones, who died this month.

North Carolina's governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, praised the board's decision to call a new election.

"People must have confidence that their vote matters and this action sends a strong message that election fraud must not be tolerated," said Cooper. </s> (Reuters) - Republican Mark Harris asked North Carolina’s elections board on Thursday to order a new election in his congressional race, saying evidence from an investigation into possible ballot fraud had undermined confidence in the vote.

The request came as a surprise, as for months Harris had said he should be declared the victor in the 9th Congressional District after he led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast on Nov. 6. Elections officials, however, had refused to certify him as the winner due to allegations of irregularities in the vote.

“Through the testimony I’ve listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called,” Harris said at a hearing in Raleigh. “It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th district seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.”

Harris’ request came on the fourth day of a hearing into whether his campaign benefited from what state investigators called illegal election manipulation by political consultant Leslie McCrae Dowless.

Earlier on Thursday, Harris said he had known Dowless was going door to door on the candidate’s behalf to help voters obtain absentee ballots, a process that is legal. Harris said Dowless assured him he would not collect the ballots from the voters, which would violate state law.

But residents of at least two counties in the district said Dowless and his paid workers collected incomplete absentee ballots and, in some instances, falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for contests left blank, according to testimony at the hearing.

Kim Strach, executive director of the state’s election board, earlier this week called the operation a “coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme.”

According to text messages Harris’ attorneys turned over to the board on Thursday, Harris sought a meeting with Dowless when he learned that Dowless had led a successful absentee ballot program for Republican candidate Todd Johnson during a 2016 congressional primary election.

In those messages to a Bladen County judge, Harris asked about “the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us.”

Harris campaign officials have said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless has maintained his innocence. </s> RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on a North Carolina congressional race for which a winner hasn't been finalized while an absentee ballot fraud investigation continues (all times local):

A North Carolina judge says there aren't grounds to step in and declare victory for the Republican in the country's last undecided congressional race amid an investigation into whether his lead was boosted by illegal vote-collection tactics.

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit by Republican Mark Harris insisting he be declared the winner. Harris' attorneys asked the judge to step in because they said the 9th congressional district urgently needs a representative in Washington, D.C.

Harris narrowly leads Democrat Dan McCready in the contest, but the numbers have been clouded by doubt due to allegations that mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded by a Harris subcontractor.

The state elections board was disbanded by an unrelated court order last month, and a new one takes over in nine days.

A North Carolina judge is considering whether he must order the victory of the Republican in the country's last undecided congressional race despite an investigation into whether his lead was boosted by illegal vote-collection tactics.

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway said Tuesday that he's unclear why Republican Mark Harris' lawyers insist he decide the winner when he doesn't know what investigators found.

Harris narrowly leads Democrat Dan McCready in the 9th District race. There are allegations that mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded by a Harris subcontractor.

The state elections board was disbanded by an unrelated court order last month, and a new one takes over in nine days.

Harris's attorneys say the judge should step in because the district's residents urgently need a representative in Washington, D.C.

A North Carolina judge is considering a demand to order the victory of the Republican in the country's last undecided congressional race despite an investigation into whether his lead was boosted by illegal vote-collection tactics.

A trial judge in the state's capital of Raleigh hears arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit by Republican Mark Harris, who narrowly led Democrat Dan McCready in the 9th District race before the investigation started.

Lawyers for McCready and the state elections board want the lawsuit dismissed. They say a completed investigation and planned evidentiary hearing is needed into allegations that mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded by a Harris subcontractor.

Democrats in the U.S. House indicate they'll also to look into the allegations. </s> FILE PHOTO: Mark Harris waits to be introduced during a volunteer meeting and rally at the Ardmore Auditorium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Chris Keane/File Photo

(Reuters) - The North Carolina Republican whose congressional campaign is under investigation for potentially tipping the election in his favor with an alleged illegal operation to collect absentee ballots is expected to testify to state election officials on Thursday.

The state board of elections has scheduled a fourth day of evidence hearings into whether Republican Mark Harris' campaign benefited from illegal election manipulation by a political consultant, which may have helped him beat Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast in the Nov. 6 vote.

The state has held off certifying Harris' apparent win after residents of at least two counties in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District said operatives working for Harris collected incomplete absentee ballots, which would violate state election law. In some instances, paid workers falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for races left blank, an election official has said.

If the investigation finds the election was tipped, the five-member State Board of Elections could order a new vote to fill the seat.

Harris' son, John, testified on Wednesday that he had warned his father he suspected the political consultant, Leslie McCrae Dowless, had illegally collected absentee ballots in a 2016 election.

Campaign officials have said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless himself has proclaimed his innocence.

The younger Harris, now an assistant U.S. attorney in North Carolina, said his father was an honest man who he believed would not have continued to employ Dowless if he had known he was illegally collecting absentee ballots.

"I love my dad and I love my mom," John Harris said in closing remarks. "I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle. They made mistakes in this process, and they certainly did things differently than I would have done them."

State Republicans have pushed for the board to certify Mark Harris as the district's representative. The U.S. House of Representatives would then determine whether to seat him.

McCready's lawyer, Marc Elias, one of the nation's top election law specialists, said earlier this week the testimony had revealed "massive election fraud" that justified a new vote.

Witnesses this week testified that the fraud appeared to be well funded and well organized by campaign officials. It is a sharply different scheme than the type of fraud by individual voters that Republican President Donald Trump repeatedly and without evidence claimed would affect the November congressional elections.

If Democrats pick up the seat, they would widen their 235-197 majority in the House. </s> (Reuters) - North Carolina’s elections board on Thursday ordered a new election for a U.S. House seat after officials said corruption surrounding absentee ballots tainted the results of a 2018 vote that has embarrassed the Republican Party.

The bipartisan board’s 5-0 decision came after Republican candidate Mark Harris, confronted by days of evidence that an operative for his campaign orchestrated a ballot fraud scheme, called for a new vote in the state’s 9th Congressional District.

“It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted,” Harris said on the fourth day of the hearing in Raleigh, the state capital.

Elections Board Chairman Bob Cordle said “the corruption” and “absolute mess” with absentee ballots had cast doubt on the entire contest.

“It certainly was a tainted election,” Cordle said. “The people of North Carolina deserve a fair election.”

The race is the country’s last unsettled 2018 congressional contest, and the outcome will not change the balance of power in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

But evidence of ballot fraud by the Harris campaign turned the tables on the Republican Party, which has accused Democrats with little evidence of encouraging individual voter fraud in races such as the 2016 presidential election.

Harris’ request for a new vote came as a surprise after he spent months trying to fend off a rerun. He led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast on Nov. 6, but elections officials refused to certify him the winner because of allegations of irregularities in the vote.

The pastor capitulated after his son testified he had warned his father of potential illegal activity by Republican political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless.

North Carolina law requires that a new primary nominating election also be conducted in the district, which covers parts of Charlotte and the southeast of the state. Republicans have held the seat since 1963.

It is unclear whether Harris, 52, will run again. He told the board he was recovering from an infection last month that led to sepsis and two strokes, and said his illness led to memory lapses during the hearing that made him realize he was not prepared for the “rigors” of the proceeding.

North Carolina’s Democratic Party said the hearing laid bare the Harris campaign’s “illegal scheme to steal an election.” McCready wasted no time in tweeting to supporters to donate to his campaign for the new election.

“Today was a great step forward for democracy in North Carolina,” he tweeted.

If Democrats pick up the seat, they would widen their 235-197 majority in the House after taking control of the chamber from President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the November elections.

State Republicans said they respected Harris’ decision to resolve a “tremendously difficult situation.”

“The people of North Carolina deserve nothing less than the full confidence and trust in the electoral system,” party Chairman Robin Hayes said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday, Harris said he had known Dowless was going door to door on the candidate’s behalf to help voters obtain absentee ballots, a process that is legal. Harris said Dowless assured him he would not collect the ballots from the voters, which would violate state law.

But residents of at least two counties in the district said Dowless and his paid workers collected incomplete absentee ballots and, in some instances, falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for contests left blank, according to testimony at the hearing.

Harris campaign officials said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless maintained his innocence. </s> (Reuters) - North Carolina’s elections board on Thursday unanimously ordered a new election for a U.S. House seat after officials said corruption surrounding absentee ballots tainted the results of last November’s vote.

The bipartisan board’s 5-0 decision came after Republican candidate Mark Harris requested a new vote, telling the panel that evidence of possible ballot fraud had undermined confidence in the election.

In the televised hearing, board Chairman Bob Cordle said “the corruption” and “absolute mess” with the election’s absentee ballots had cast doubt on the fairness of the contest.

“It certainly was a tainted election,” Cordle said ahead of the vote. “The people of North Carolina deserve a fair election.”

Harris’ request for a new vote came as a surprise. For months, he had said he should be declared the victor in the 9th Congressional District after he led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast on Nov. 6. Elections officials, however, had refused to certify him as the winner due to allegations of irregularities in the vote.

“Through the testimony I’ve listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called,” Harris said at a hearing in Raleigh.

It was unclear whether Harris would run in the new race. He told the board he was recovering from an infection that led to sepsis and two strokes and he was not prepared for the “rigors” of the hearing.

During this week’s hearing, Harris’ son said he had warned his father of potential illegal activity in the election by one of his political operatives, Leslie McCrae Dowless.

North Carolina’s Democratic Party said the hearing had laid bare the Harris campaign’s “illegal scheme to steal an election.”

“This saga could only have ended in a new election,” the state Democrats said.

Harris’ statement came on the fourth day of a hearing on whether his campaign benefited from what state investigators called illegal election manipulation by Dowless.

Earlier on Thursday, Harris said he had known Dowless was going door to door on the candidate’s behalf to help voters obtain absentee ballots, a process that is legal. Harris said Dowless assured him he would not collect the ballots from the voters, which would violate state law.

But residents of at least two counties in the district said Dowless and his paid workers collected incomplete absentee ballots and, in some instances, falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for contests left blank, according to testimony at the hearing.

Harris campaign officials said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless maintained his innocence.
North Carolina election authorities unanimously order a new election to choose the district's representative to the United States House of Representatives after their investigation determined the Republican candidate's campaign illegally handled absentee ballots, and the candidate, Mark Harris, reverses his position and calls for a new election.