I’ve mentioned the race for the Representative’s seat for NC-9, which has yet to be filled from the mid-terms because of alleged misdeeds by operatives for candidate Harris (R-NC), who claimed victory but was not certified as the victor. The North Carolina election board has decided to throw out the result and rerun the contest:
The North Carolina Board of Elections voted unanimously on Thursday in favor of holding a new election in the 9th Congressional District after an investigation into absentee ballot irregularities.
The decision comes shortly after Mark Harris, the Republican leading in the contested race, said a new election should be called. He told the state board he does not condone the activities that have come to light after testimony this week and he feels that the public’s confidence in the process is shaken.
The control of one seat in the House of Representatives isn’t going to mean much in terms of legislation, but I expect to be flooded by mail from at least the Democrats on this. For one thing, it’s a lever to get more money out of party members. Not being one, I do not feel obligated to do the cultist thing.
But, potentially more importantly, this is the contest in which the winning side will get to do a big dance of victory. If the Republicans win, they can declare that it doesn’t matter if there is an appearance of corruption in the race, their voters will come out and vote for them anyways. In essence, there’ll be little need to change their behaviors, so like any bad child, they’ll continue.
For the Democrats, a victory speaks to the ability to beard the lion in the lion’s den, a flag they can wave to excite the partisans, and an incumbent who’ll have an even greater chance of victory in less than two years – and any possible halo effect which might come with that victory. It’ll suggest to party members that their brothers and sisters in that other party might be finally waking up from their long, long nightmare.
Which I doubt is a proper conclusion.
So the next few weeks (election date doesn’t appear to be set just yet) should prove interesting.
