Election fraud town hall leaves emotional crowd asking for new election

BLADENBORO, NC (WWAY) — A town hall in Bladen County meant to educate residents about election fraud quickly turned emotional, with some people left with more questions than answers.

Dr. Anthony Spearman, president of the North Carolina NAACP, spoke to a fired up crowd at the First Baptist Church in Bladenboro Tuesday night.

“You see, harvesting is the fancy term they use for stealing. But I’m here to tell you we need to call a spade a spade,” Spearman.

The town hall was held by several groups urging residents to speak out about claims of voter fraud in the Congressional District 9 race.

“I did not request this ballot. There was no reason for me to request an absentee ballot. I go to voting polls every year,” said one woman.

Residents shared their personal experiences and concerns.

Election rights experts were also ready to answer any questions.

Speakers claimed that McCrae Dowless and other vote harvesting groups targeted black senior citizens, and they say this isn’t the first time it has happened.

One man said a friend of his received unwanted absentee ballots in 2016. He said someone came to the door to collect them and never came back, until they complained to the board of elections.

“Two or three days later, the ballots showed back up.”

3,404 requested absentee ballots in Bladen County were never returned. The number of votes separating Mark Harris and Dan McCready for the 9th district house seat is just 905 votes.

Some were concerned this could have affected the sheriff’s race too, including the losing candidate, Hakeem Brown.

“Let’s stand for justice. And I told somebody before we don’t want no patty cake justice. We want swift justice!” exclaimed Brown.

The NAACP, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, NC Black Alliance, Blueprint NC, and Progress NC Action all attended the meeting.