R.I.P.

Political Operative at Center of North Carolina Absentee Ballot Scandal Dies

Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. had been slated to go on trial this summer to answer for his alleged role in an absentee ballot scam.

Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., a political operative accused of ballot fraud dating back to 2016, has died, according to his family. Andrea Dowless Heverly announced the news of her father’s death on Sunday morning, saying he had “passed away peacefully.” A friend told the Associated Press that Dowless had been diagnosed with an advanced form of lung cancer. He was in his mid-60s, according to the AP. The alleged mastermind of a fraudulent absentee ballot enterprise related the 2016 general election and the 2018 primary and general elections, Dowless had been scheduled to go on trial this summer on 13 criminal counts, including charges of obstruction of justice and perjury. Dowless, according to the findings of a probe that ended in a 2018 congressional election being tossed out, allegedly conspired with the help of his assistants to gather and forge signatures on hundreds of absentee ballots. Though the case against Dowless has ended with his death, Wake County district attorney Lorrin Freeman said she was committed to prosecuting the half-dozen other figures also arrested in the wake of the federal probe.