If and when the state Board of Elections convenes its evidentiary hearing Jan. 11, our fervent hope is for restored confidence in elections.
In particular, the 9th District of which Anson is a part.
The trickling of information in Bladen, Robeson and Columbus counties, sourced and unsourced, has eroded our belief. We need nonpartisan transparency, a commodity difficult to find.
For anyone to trust the outcome of this 2018 election, those before it or any others to follow, the state Board of Elections and the legal system must work together. That didn’t happen after the 2016 election cycle, and quite possibly in any number of years earlier.
Like many, we’re not sure what to believe. And there’s no guarantee this probe will change that. But it’s a start to a process that will take time. And that’s if it goes through — Friday’s disbanding of the state Board of Elections pumped more chaos into the equation.
What we do know from the investigation is problems existed in Bladen County two years ago and a request was made for criminal charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of North Carolina didn’t pursue it. And so far, it hasn’t said why.
We’d like to know.
State prosecutors didn’t pursue it either. Again, we’d like to know why.
We need restored confidence because what we have now are a lot of accusations and questions, the former to include the refrain “this has been going on for years” in that county. Former investigators say shenanigans have gone on elsewhere, too. We need to know what has happened, and reason to believe it won’t happen in the future.
McCrae Dowless, acknowledged as the central figure in the probe, lawyered up quickly. The convicted felon’s braggart days of telling people how to handle absentee ballots have turned into a deafening and damning silence. His list of clients over the years to include the Bladen County sheriff, Bladen County commissioners and candidates from both parties in and out of Bladen County only digs a deeper chasm of mistrust between voters and those who serve them in elected office.
He, as well as those elected officials for whom he worked, are innocent until proven guilty. But if empirical evidence shows he or anyone else connected to an election in any year acted out of the boundary of the law, we want to see the legal system prosecute.
Our country’s independence was founded more than 200 years ago on the belief of the people’s representation, with a voting system established that provides our voice. Generations of Americans have fought and died for it.
In the 9th District, we are in an era of mistrust for this system. That’s not right. We need this investigation, and more if needed, to reveal an unbiased nonpartisan truth.
Prosecute those who break the law. Remove from prosecutorial offices anyone who might have neglected duties. If anyone has been elected and seated, but evidence now shows it was an error, resignations and new elections are in order.
We must restore confidence in all of our elections. It’s the right thing to do.