Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly requested an emergency hearing Wednesday on reports of election fraud in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
After Republican Mark Harris appeared to win the North Carolina seat on election night, the state’s election board voted to not certify the results due to irregularities with absentee ballots. An investigation into allegations of election fraud is ongoing as officials determine how many absentee ballots were unreturned. One political operative working for Harris reportedly paid people to illegally collect absentee ballots, and it is unclear if those ballots were ever submitted.
Connolly, vice ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, wants a hearing before the end of the year.
“While the Republican majority is once again chasing conspiracies, real election fraud is playing out right before us in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District,” Connolly said in a statement on Wednesday. “We should see every action they take to ignore this situation for what it is – a slap in the face to all voters in North Carolina who participated in the 2018 election with the expectation that every vote would be counted.”
Votes were “stolen by preying on senior and minority voters,” Connelly said, leaving a “cloud of doubt” over the election result.
“It is incumbent on Chairman [Trey] Gowdy to hold an emergency hearing before the end of this congressional session so that we can shed light and understand what happened in this race,” Connolly added.
Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., plans to discuss the situation with California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who is expected to head the House Administration Committee next year when Democrats take control of the House. The administration committee has the authority to launch an independent investigation and call for a new election if deemed necessary.
Hoyer, the incoming majority leader, told reporters Tuesday that Democrats could refuse to seat Harris if the issue remains unresolved in January.
“If there is what appears to be a very substantial question on the integrity of the election, clearly we would oppose Mr. Harris’ being seated until that is resolved,” Hoyer said. “It ought to be resolved before we seat any member; he has not been certified yet.”
