Tag: Lorrin Freeman

Washington (CNN)North Carolina's State Board of Elections on Friday named Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., a political operative who worked for Republican candidate Mark Harris, as "a person of interest in connection with an alleged absentee ballot operation in the congressional district." The news comes as the Wake County District Attorney's office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation investigate criminal allegations that Dowless used absentee ballots to alter the vote in Bladen County in the race for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District. Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by only 905 votes. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman confirmed Friday that the FBI is assisting in the investigation. The FBI would not confirm or deny if it was investigating. Dowless worked for Red Dome Group, a GOP political consulting firm that Harris paid more than $400,000. He has not returned CNN's calls. On Friday, Harris tweeted a video statement where he said he would support a new election if there is evidence of election fraud. "I didn't serve overseas in the Marines to come home to NC and watch a criminal, bankrolled by my opponent, take away people's very right to vote," McCready tweeted. Red Dome had hired Dowless to perform get-out-the-vote work for Harris' campaign.