A political operative who worked on behalf of a North Carolina Republican congressional candidate was indicted on Wednesday for allegedly illegally collecting absentee ballots from voters and then taking steps to conceal his actions. The operative, McCrae Dowless, was charged along with four other people by Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman in relation to actions in the 2016 and 2018 elections. North Carolina requires two people to sign as witnesses when they fill out absentee ballots, and the indictment alleges that in 2018, Dowless conspired with others to falsely sign as witnesses on ballots they had collected. Mathis faces an additional charge for allegedly forging the signature of two voters on their absentee ballots. “These indictments should serve as a stern warning to anyone trying to defraud elections in North Carolina,” she said in a statement.

Source: Huffington Post February 27, 2019 18:01 UTC