NC Board of Elections knew and 'strongly suggested' GOP operative was committing election fraud as far back as 2016

The North Carolina Board of Elections "strongly suggested" that a controversial GOP operative accused of ballot harvesting in the 2018 midterms was paying people for their absentee ballots -- in 2016.

HuffPost voting rights reporter Sam Levine tweeted Wednesday that the NCBOE released a 2016 report regarding Leslie McCrae Dowless, an operative personally approved by congressional candidate Mark Harris to work in Eastern NC's Bladen County.

Based on interviews with people who worked with Dowless, the NCBOE said the evidence "led to information strongly suggesting" Dowless "was paying individuals to solicit absentee request forms and to collect absentee ballots from Bladen County voters."

Levine noted that "two people who worked for McCrae Dowless told North Carolina investigators in 2016 that Donald Trump was one of the candidates Dowless wanted them to push people to vote for."

He also noted that the operative "always" kept absentee ballots unless voters asked for them back and that people working for him said he coached them on how to talk to investigators.

Dowless has consistently maintained his innocence and told the News & Observer on Tuesday that investigators will exonerate him of the alleged ballot harvesting that may have led to a slight lead for Harris, the candidate who hired him in 2018.