With all of the national attention on potential election fraud in Bladen County, you would think there would also be a lot of interest in the potential fraud in neighboring Robeson County.
But there really isn't.
Brant Clifton at the Daily Haymaker noted the disparity:
You have to remember that about HALF of Bladen County is in the Ninth. Bladen County has a total population of 33,478 (as of 2017) and a total voter registration of 23,334. So, if you’re talking about the pool of possible voters in Bladen County for the Ninth, you’re looking at anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 people at most.
Compare that to neighboring — and Democrat stronghold — Robeson County. Robeson has a population of 132,606 (as of 2017) and total voter registration of 77,625 (48,607 DEM, 9751 REP). ALL of Robeson is in the Ninth.
You’re talking about a much larger population of voters and ballots in Robeson County than in Bladen County. But the media and the Democrats only want to talk about Bladen County — where a Republican connection has been revealed. Robeson County, however, has a long long long history of electoral hijinks. (I believe one former state board of elections member described the county as a “frequent flier”in the board’s investigative process.)
From the beginning, this story has quarantined Bladen County Republicans as the source of the only problem, despite evidence that absentee ballot harvesting has been operating in that area for years.
And mainly Democrats.
I suspect the current narrative is the only one being told because it confirms the priors of far too many in the NC political & punditry scene. But if we truly care about cleaning up fraud, eliminating vulnerabilities in the systems, and restoring election integrity, we'd be better served by a more expansive examination.
WBTV in Charlotte has been doing some of this work:
An investigation by WBTV found that some candidates who donated to the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC failed to report it in their campaign finance disclosures. The BCIA is also sending conflicting messages about its objectives with its attorney saying the group does not make endorsements but its president saying something else entirely.
The BCIA was investigated in 2016 by the North Carolina State Board of Elections for illegally collecting ballots. Its President Horace Munn denies ever doing anything unlawful.
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BCIA attorney Irving Joyner wrote an email to WBTV saying that the organization focuses on get out the vote efforts in the African American community and “the BCIA does not provide services to any individual candidate or organization.”
But that directly contradicts what [Democratic candidate for Sheriff, Hakeem] Brown told WBTV over the phone. That BCIA poll workers passed out his campaign card but that “to my knowledge they did not do absentee ballot requests this time.”
On Brown’s own campaign finance reports he noted the donation to BCIA was for poll workers.
BCIA President Horace Munn told WBTV over the phone that the organization “endorsed certain candidates” and “we did have workers at the polls.” When asked whether those workers were there in support of Brown Munn hung up the phone.
Pete's Prep Sheet: Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019
- The first case of a rabid bear in North Carolina has been confirmed. It happened down east, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
- An artificial intelligence (AI) program hid data from its human creators to "cheat at its appointed task."
- Researchers at Yale and Princeton say white liberals "dumb down" their language when speaking with minorities. Far more than conservatives, white liberals tend to use “indirect forms of bias, drawing on negative stereotypes to affiliate with Blacks.”
- Steve Moore, co-author of Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy, will join us today to discuss his book.