North Carolina Republican operative charged in election fraud scheme

The operative, Leslie McCrae Dowless, was charged with three felony counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiring to commit obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of absentee ballots, according to court documents. Allegations that operatives working for Dowless illegally collected, and sometimes filled in, absentee ballots on behalf of Republican Mark Harris' campaign emerged shortly after the Nov. 6 election. The state Board of Elections, during four days of hearings last week, heard evidence of what election officials called a well-funded and well-organized campaign to tip the election for the state's 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which stretches southeast from Charlotte.