The Union County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Monday calling on the state Board of Elections to certify Mark Harris as the winner of the District 9 congressional seat, or to immediately provide concrete proof that election fraud occurred.
The board of elections is set to host an evidentiary hearing about potential illegal ballot tampering on January 11, which would leave the congressional seat vacant for the start of session.
Union County commissioners who proposed the resolution say they don’t want to wait that long for answers.
The resolution is purely symbolic – the commissioners who voted yes said they want to send a message to the state board of elections that they’re not happy about how the investigation is being handled.
“I’ve not seen a smoking gun,” Union BOC Chairman Richard Helms pushed at Monday night’s meeting.
“We don’t have representation because they’re dragging this out -- if there is evidence produce it, if there’s anything there produce it, you’ve had plenty of time,” commissioner Story Rushing added.
Mark Harris won 59 percent of the vote in Union County, which helped him slide into a narrow overall victory in the 9th District over Democratic opponent Dan McCready.
But the Board of Elections still has not certified Harris’ win because of election fraud allegations that arose shortly after the final votes were tallied.
“We can’t have any impact on the certification but we can make a statement,” BOC Vice Chairman Dennis Rape said.
The Union County commissioners doing just that, by publicly passing the resolution.
“This man is a good man, what I see is the media trying to destroy him,” Rape said.
Commissioner Jerry Simpson, also a Republican, was the only nay vote.
“I stood right there put my hand on the Bible and swore an oath just support and defend the Constitution and the citizens of Union County,” Simpson said. “So even though I support Mark Harris, I can’t support the resolution.”
Some citizens who attended the meeting were upset the resolution was even introduced.
“I think it is irresponsible of our county commissioners to put this pressure up on the Board of Elections,” said Steven Davis, who once ran for county commissioner. “They need to give the Board of Elections time to conduct [the] investigation without being coerced by any of our local government officials.”