State Board of Elections investigating possible voter fraud

BLADEN COUNY, NC (WWAY) — The Bladen County Board of Elections is investigating the protest that Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor McCrae Dowless filed after he found evidence that suggests one person filled out hundreds of absentee ballots.

Bladen County Board of Elections Chairman Billy Ludlum says it appears that hundreds of write-in votes for Franklin Graham had the same handwriting.

“The allegation is that the same person is writing in the write in candidate on numerous ballots,” Ludlum said. “We want to have fair and equitable elections within state law and with no problems. Unfortunately, these allegations that have been made have to be investigated.”

What started as a concern at the county level quickly caught the attention of those involved in the Governor’s race.

Governor Pat McCrory is a few thousand votes behind Roy Cooper.

But in Bladen County, hundreds of those votes for Democrats could be fraudulent.

“This is very concerning because in a very close race, we must do everything that we can to ensure voter fraud isn’t taking place,” Ricky Diaz, a spokesman for Pat McCrory, said. “It could tip the balance of our elections.”

Ford Porter, a spokesman with the Cooper Campaign responded to the allegations with this statement:

“This is an isolated incident that the State Board of Elections is aware of and investigating. We fully support that investigation into improper assistance in this nonpartisan local Soil and Water Conservation District race. Once again, Governor McCrory is trying to undermine the results of an election he lost.”

The State Board of Elections is now investigating this situation.

However, they said they cannot comment at this time.