There's a major election fraud case unfolding in North Carolina
A woman inserts her ballot into the machine. Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
The first major election fraud case in a long time is unfolding in North Carolina, but it's far different than the threat hyped up by Republicans, and it threatens to force a new election.
The latest: Republican Mark Harris holds an unofficial 905-vote lead over his Democratic opponent Dan McCready in North Carolina's 9th congressional district. North Carolina's state elections board won't certify the results, citing "claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities related to absentee by-mail ballots."
Between the lines: This is different than Republican warnings about voter fraud, which baselessly claim voters are being illegally brought to the polls to vote multiple times or in places they don't reside.
Driving the news:
Democrats in the House are threatening not to seat Harris: Nancy Pelosi said they "could take the 'extraordinary step' of calling for a new election if the winner isn’t clear," the AP reported today.
North Carolina Republicans are open to a new election if fraud is proven to have affected the results, its executive director said today.
Details:
Leslie McCrae Dowless, who worked for Harris' campaign as a contractor, is reportedly at the center of the probe.
He has been accused of collecting and filling out hundreds of voters’ absentee ballots — which is illegal in the state. North Carolina mandates all absentee ballot envelopes must be signed by two witnesses and dropped off by voters or their close relatives.
Dowless has denied any wrongdoing, though the AP reports that Bladen County's elections board has recorded that he submitted over 500 ballots.
The bottom line: President Trump — who spent years baselessly claiming Democrats were behind massive voter fraud and created a voter fraud task force at the White House — has yet to comment on North Carolina.
Fear and flatlining: The stock market's brutal 2018
After an epic 2017, the three major U.S. stock market indices are trending toward a negative year in 2018, with a return to volatility and puzzling sell-offs after strong — but not astronomical — earnings numbers in formerly stalwart U.S. stock sectors.
Data: Money.Net; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios
Between the lines: Maybe the valuations were a little too hot, or investors were spoiled by double digit returns.
Perhaps it's people looking at the economy and forthcoming interest rate hikes and deciding to sell off now in case things turn south.
Or maybe it's the fear of second-order effects from a potential cold war with China.
The other side: “This sort of price action is extremely normal,” Peter Lazaroff of Plancorp told MarketWatch. “What was strange was the outsized returns investors have earned in recent years with effectively no volatility.”
Driving the news:
The FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) have collectively lost $1 trillion in market value from their 52-week highs.
Four out of the 5 worst performing S&P 500 stocks today were retail companies (L Brands, Target, Ross Stores, and Kohl's), per FactSet.
In the last 3 months, the Volatility Index (VIX) — a fear indicator on Wall Street — has surged more than 50%, per FactSet. The gauge still remains low by historical standards, but it's producing big daily swings like the chart shown below.
Data: Factset; Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
The bottom line: Enjoy the holidays and get some rest. December and 2019 could be a wild ride.
Scorched and smothered by wildfires, California's 13 months of hell
Blackened and charred hills from the Woolsey Fire which made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.
California is never immune to big fires, but a look at the past 13 months reveals a horrifying path of destruction that deserves equal screen time to the latest political intrigues.
Driving the news: Parts of the state are blanketed in smoke, with temperatures dropping as a result and residents scrambling to get specialized masks to help filter the air. The state's air quality is currently the worst in the nation as a result of the fires, Bloomberg reports.
