The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Thursday ordered a do-over in the state’s 9th Congressional District after officials concluded the Nov. 6 contest was marred by widespread absentee ballot fraud.

The decision came after GOP Rep.-elect Mark Harris asked the board to order a new election in his congressional race, saying evidence from a probe of possible ballot fraud had undermined confidence in the vote.

“Through the testimony I’ve listened to in the past three days, I believe a new election should be called,” Harris said at a hearing in Raleigh.

“It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th District seat has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.”

Election officials had refused to certify Harris as the victor in the disputed Nov. 6 vote, in which he appeared to prevail over Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast.

Harris denied knowing about an illegal absentee ballot collection program that state investigators said one of his political operatives ran.

On Wednesday, Harris’ son John Harris testified that he warned his father about the absentee ballot scheme used by Leslie McCrae Dowless, the political operative behind the election fraud scandal.

With Reuters