North Carolina state election officials told federal prosecutors in January 2017 that they found evidence of efforts to manipulate the absentee ballot vote in rural Bladen County in the 2016 election and warned that such activities “will likely continue for future elections” if not addressed, according to correspondence obtained Friday by The Washington Post.
In a Jan. 30, 2017, letter addressed to then-U. S. Attorney John Bruce of the Eastern District of North Carolina, Kim Strach, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, said the agency had conducted a “lengthy investigation” of alleged absentee ballot fraud in Bladen County.
“Our findings to date suggest that individuals and potentially groups of individuals engaged in efforts to manipulate election results through the absentee ballot process,” Strach wrote. “The evidence we have obtained suggest that these efforts may have taken place in the past and if not addressed will likely continue for future elections.”
The letter raises fresh questions about whether federal investigators took any actions scrutinize the complaints.