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Reporters detail NC's infamous 2018 race for the 9th Congressional District in 'The Vote Collectors'

Pexels

Voter fraud is exceedingly rare in the United States — so rare, in fact, that it is more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than to commit voter fraud.

But in 2018, lightning struck in North Carolina. Republican Mark Harris’ win for the 9th Congressional District was ultimately voided after evidence emerged that an operative for his campaign allegedly tampered with absentee ballots.

It may be the only time in the last 80 years in which a congressional race has been voided due to fraud.

Nonetheless, in response to the specter of election meddling, new voter laws in many states have made it harder for Americans to vote, all the while former President Donald Trump continues to lie about the 2020 election results.

To understand how North Carolina's 2018 race for the 9th District still resonates in politics nationwide, we sit down with two Charlotte-area reporters to discuss their book "The Vote Collectors: The True Story of the Scamsters, Politicians, and Preachers behind the Nation’s Greatest Electoral Fraud."

GUESTS

Nick Ochsner, executive producer for investigations and chief investigative reporter for WBTV in Charlotte and co-author of "The Vote Collectors: The True Story of the Scamsters, Politicians, and Preachers behind the Nation’s Greatest Electoral Fraud"

Michael Graff, editor for Axios Charlotte and co-author of "The Vote Collectors: The True Story of the Scamsters, Politicians, and Preachers behind the Nation’s Greatest Electoral Fraud"

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Jesse Steinmetz is Producer of Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. Before joining WFAE in 2019, he was an intern at WNPR in Hartford, Connecticut and hosted a show at Eastern Connecticut State University.