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“I believe a new election should be called,” Harris told the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Thursday, the fourth day of a hearing that was examining allegations of an illegal voter-turnout operation.
“It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th District’s general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted,” Harris said to audible gasps in the hearing room in the North Carolina capital.
The state board did not immediately rule on Harris’ request, but the five-member panel is now virtually certain to order a new election. It was not immediately clear whether Harris, a pastor from Charlotte who had a 905-vote lead over his Democratic rival, Dan McCready, would run again for the congressional seat.
Harris’ announcement Thursday afternoon was an abrupt collapse of the Republican effort to stave off a new vote in the district, which includes part of Charlotte and runs through much of southeastern North Carolina.
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But days of testimony, including some from Harris on Thursday morning, apparently led the Republican candidate to conclude that a new vote was appropriate. In doing so, Harris effectively acknowledged that L. McCrae Dowless Jr., a contractor he personally hired, and a network of employees had compromised the integrity of the vote. According to testimony this week, the workers collected absentee ballots — a violation of state law — and sometimes filled them in, or signed as witnesses when they in fact had no grounds to do so.
Dowless, who has not been charged with any crimes, declined to testify before the state board.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.