By Amy Gardner and Beth Reinhard
Bladenboro — When GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger (click here) lost his primary by a narrow margin in May, he suspected something was amiss.
The congressman turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered with him on election night at a steakhouse near Charlotte and blamed the “ballot stuffers in Bladen,” according to three people at the gathering.
Pittenger’s concern stemmed from the vote tallies in rural Bladen County, where his challenger, a pastor from the Charlotte suburbs named Mark Harris, had won 437 absentee mail-in votes. Pittenger, a three-term incumbent, had received just 17.
In the days immediately after the race, aides to Pittenger told the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party and a regional political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee that they believed fraud had occurred, according to people familiar with their discussions....
While tampering with legitimate ballots has nothing to do with Voter ID, Raleigh Republicans like to lie about the fact their bill will protect from such mishandling. That is not the case. Deliberate mishandling of legitimately filed votes is NOT an issue of Voter ID, it is an issue for criminal intent in fixing an election through mishandling of votes.
Putting Voter ID on a state constitution stills allow for review by the courts and declaring it unconstitutional.
December 6, 2018
By Lynn Bonner
Raleigh - A bill requiring North Carolina voters (click here) show photo identification before casting ballots at the polls beginning next year won final approval in the state Senate.
The voter ID bill that now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature was approved as scrutiny of possible election fraud in the 9th Congressional District intensifies. The investigation is focused on mishandling of absentee ballots....
...Voter ID is a long-held Republican goal. A 2013 voter ID law in North Carolina was struck down in federal court in 2016. Republicans this year put a constitutional amendment for voter ID on the ballot. It passed with about 55 percent of the vote.
Opponents have traveled to Raleigh to speak against and protest the bill. Protesters sang and carried signs in the rotunda outside the gallery soon after the 25-7 vote to approve the bill with little debate.
Cooper said last week there was no need for photo ID, and called it “wrong for our state.” He did not say whether he would veto legislation.
An audit of 4.8 million votes cast in the 2016 election found one instance of in-person voter impersonation that could have been prevented by photo identification....
