The Latest: US House may review disputed N Carolina election

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Latest on a North Carolina congressional race where a winner hasn’t been finalized while an absentee ballot fraud investigation continues (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

A U.S. House committee is signalling that Congress may ultimately resolve the nation’s last undecided congressional race.

The head of the House Administration Committee on Friday asked North Carolina elections officials to preserve all original notes, recordings or documents used in investigating allegations of ballot fraud in the state’s 9th District.

Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California says the U.S. House may also investigate and ultimately determine the rightful winner of the disputed seat. Lofgren says state officials should save all evidence they collect or which is turned over by law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies.

Sworn statements by voters and other witnesses have suggested mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded.

Republican Mark Harris holds a narrow lead over Democrat Dan McCready.

___

3 p.m.

A North Carolina elections official in the county where fraud allegations have forestalled declaring a winner in the nation’s last undecided congressional race says some requests for mail-in ballots were forged.

Bladen County Elections Board Chairman Bobby Ludlum said in a sworn affidavit released Friday that three absentee ballot request forms submitted in the 2018 general election were forged. The Republican elections official said they were among 165 requests dropped off by a woman whom he didn’t identify. He said one of the forged requests was for one of his relatives, who hadn’t asked for it.

People working on behalf of both Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready submitted multiple requests for absentee ballots, which is legal.

Harris narrowly leads in the 9th Congressional District race.

The Associated Press