RALEIGH, N.C. — Evidence collected over months and being unveiled Monday could reveal whether the nation's last undecided congressional election was either tainted by so much ballot-tampering that a winner cannot be declared -- or that the actual winner was unfairly denied the seat.
North Carolina's state elections board holds at least two days of hearings starting Monday. That's when investigators will describe their findings into allegations that a political operative tampered with or even discarded mail-in ballots in a rural county that's part of the 9th Congressional District.
The elections board said it could decide to certify Republican Mark Harris as the narrow winner over Democrat Dan McCready or order a new election.
The investigation centers on a Harris subcontractor whose vote-getting techniques have drawn notice since at least 2010.