Twice delayed before the state board was finally dissolved, a public evidentiary hearing is now scheduled Feb. 18.
The 10 a.m. meeting will be held at the North Carolina State Bar, 217 E. Edenton St. in Raleigh. The meeting is expected to last two days but three are reserved.
The five-member board, chosen last week by the governor, is expected to hear about claims of irregularities related to absentee by-mail voting and other alleged activities in certain counties in the 9th Congressional District, a news release from board spokesman Patrick Gannon says.
The U.S. House seat for the 9th District has remained vacant since Congress convened in January. In November, the previous state Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement did not verify the race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready. Also affected were county races in Bladen and Robeson counties.
Harris led McCready by 905 votes after Election Day in unofficial returns.
The investigation has called Bladenboro’s McCrae Dowless a person of interest. According to published reports, he is yet to speak with investigators from the state board.
Harris, who hired Dowless, has spoken with the state board staff.
In addition to the state Board of Elections investigation, there is a criminal probe being handled by Lorrin Freeman, the district attorney in Wake County.
District 9, which includes Bladen County and a stretch along the South Carolina border essentially from Fayetteville to Charlotte, is without representation in the U.S. House. Northern Bladen County is in the 9th while the southern part of the county is in District 7, represented by Four Oaks’ Republican David Rouzer.
The dissolvement of the board was fulfillment of an October decision by state judges who ruled its makeup unconstitutional. They granted the board allowance to continue through the general election, then made extensions in hopes of seeing the 9th District probe completed.
Democrats Stella Anderson of Boone, David C. Black of Concord and Jeff Carmon III of Durham join Republicans Bob Cordle of Charlotte and Ken Raymond of Winston-Salem on the new state board.
Also uncertified are two races in Bladen County. The District 3 commissioner seat, held by Russell Priest, and a district supervisor seat on the Soil and Water Conservation Board are also in the balance.
Priest, the incumbent, received more votes than Wayne Edge and has continued to serve on the commission; Edge has since penned a letter conceding, or pulling out of, the race. Earl Storms had the most votes in the Soil and Water race.
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