If you haven’t been in a cave for the past few years, it’s likely that you’ve heard an awful lot about the corrupt nature of American politics. Many of the politicians who have become embroiled in these have cited “plausible deniability” in determining their guilt. Meaning, they didn’t know what was really going on, so they can’t be blamed.
Franklin Roosevelt once said “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” This is a rather apt statement, especially in this case. Which involves a prominent politician and the emotional testimony that would prove to be his undoing…
Early Life
North Carolina politician Mark Harris, like so many other American politicians, came from rather humble beginnings. As the child of a religious family, Harris found comfort in God and though he eventually graduated with a bachelor’s in political science from Appalachian State University, he also chose to make the church an important aspect of his adult life.
Church Goer
Following college, Harris eventually attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and today, he serves as senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, He also serves as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Of course, being an avid churchgoer doesn’t mean you’re immune from political corruption…
Republican Primary
Harris had run for the United States Senate in the 2014 election and managed to finish in third place in the Republican primary behind Thom Tillis and Greg Brannon. Undaunted, he ran again in 2016 against incumbent Congressman Robert Pittenger. He lost again but kept going and in 2018, he finally beat out Pittenger.
Election Results
There was a problem with his win, however, one borne of a mix of public scrutiny and an increased interest in the possible illicit dealings of some members of the Republican party since the 2016 election. The subsequent general election against Democratic opponent Dan McCready, saw a number of concerns arise about possible election fraud committed in Harris’ camp…
Many Votes Ahead
There was a bit of excitement leading up to the midterm 2018 elections, which meant that people all across the country were watching the results very carefully. Initial tallies for the election put Harris 905 votes ahead of McCready. The Democratic opponent conceded the day after the election, but the state’s board of voters weren’t satisfied. They had some theories.
The Claims
The voter’s board claimed that Harris had won by using independent contractors to collect unsealed absentee ballots from voters. After that, those same alleged contractors altered the votes, before submitting them to the post office. The main culprit behind this assumed voter fraud was Leslie McCrae Dowless, one of Harris’ own political operatives…
Dowless
The North Carolina Board of Elections voted 9-0 on November 27 not to certify the election and a few days later, they opened up an investigation into what they believed were the illegal activities of Dowless. Considering Dowless had prior felony convictions for perjury and fraud, this didn’t seem like such a stretch.
Orchestration
Dowless didn’t exactly have a spotless record when it came to political campaigns either. He had been employed by several Republican candidates who wanted him to orchestrate “get out the vote” efforts. Harris allegedly kept Dowless on the payroll despite many warnings, one of which had come from a source quite close to him…
“I’m the Winner”
Pretty soon, the investigation was in full swing and allegations about the Harris campaign’s voter fraud began to hit the airwaves. This didn’t stop Harris, however. As far as he was concerned, he was the winner and in January 2019, he petitioned to have a court certify him as the winner of the election; his petition was summarily rejected.
Avoidance Behavior
Around the same time, Harris made another rather embarrassing mistake when he falsely set off a fire alarm so that he might avoid the news media. When he was eventually confronted, he stated that he had to leave quickly because he was rushing to catch a sports game. Still, the worst embarrassment was yet to come…
Warnings a’ Plenty
As previously stated, Harris himself had approved the hiring of Dowless in direct defiance of the many personal warnings he had received about the individual. Even in 2016, Harris knew that Dowless had almost certainly used questionable tactics to deliver absentee votes for Republican congressional candidate Todd Johnson.
That Harris Boy
John Harris, an attorney, and Mark Harris’ son, recently testified before the North Carolina State Board of Elections in order to clear things up regarding his father’s alleged involvement in the supposed voter fraud. John began his explanation by stating that he had been suspicious of Dowless’ operations right from the get-go…
Emotional “Betrayal”
The emotional testimony continued, with John Harris talking about how he warned his father to watch out for Dowless. He knew that Dowless had used this absentee ballot scheme before and that they were not above doing it again. His testimony appears to directly refute Harris’ own comments that he was never warned about Dowless.
Email Evidence
There is even email evidence of John’s warnings to his father. An email from April 7, 2017, includes the text of the law on the illegality of collecting a person’s absentee ballot. Despite this, John added that he knew his father’s mind was already made up. That, despite the warning, he wasn’t going to give up on trying to win…
A Good Test
One line from the email indicates John’s serious sarcasm to his father. “Good test is if you’re comfortable with the full process he uses being broadcast on the news…” he explained. Nevertheless, as damning as this testimony seemed to be towards his parents, John had a way to redeem himself.
No Idea
John wanted to make sure that the media and the court knew that there was no reason for him to believe that either his father, mother or anyone else in his father’s campaign knew what Dowless was actually doing. While he raised red flags about hiring Dowless, he didn’t think that Harris would allow the man to commit a criminal act on his behalf; provided he knew about it…
No Scores to Settle
“I love my dad, and I love my mom,” John Harris said in court. “I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle. I think that they made mistakes in this process and they certainly did things differently than I would have done them.” The evidentiary hearing continued into the week after that.
Evidentiary Hearing
A number of state officials and individuals employed by Dowless testified during the course of the hearing. Many of them actually affirmed the belief that Dowless illegally paid people to collect and manipulate the ballots. Despite what anyone may say, this all comes back to Mark Harris in the end…
Inaccuracies
Mark Harris himself took the stand and assured the board of Dowless’ own assurances that the whole operation was legal. Later, when his testimony was pointed out as being “inaccurate,” Harris acknowledged that his health problems may have been the cause of the erroneous claims he made on the stand.
Awaiting a Verdict
In February 2019, the Board of Election unanimously ordered a new election and threw out the results of the last election. In an ironic twist of fate, Harris had publicly called for a new election earlier that very day. Which you can see Harris and his son’s testimonies in full below…
