Let's close out Tuesday's theme with the latest and greatest from Bladen County in the newly insane state of North Carolina, where local TV is kicking all kinds of ass in what was clearly a criminal—to say nothing of a meat-axe—approach to voter suppression. From WBTV:

Handwritten notes obtained by WBTV suggest a second person ran an operation focused on absentee ballots in Bladen County in the 2018 primary election. The notes came from two people who collected the sheet of paper after a meeting on April 8, 2018 to discuss efforts in the primary race for Bladen County Sheriff. According to the two people who provided the notes to WBTV, the person who left the sheet of paper behind is Jeff Smith, a business owner and town commissioner in the county.

The two people who provided the notes to WBTV asked they not be identified to provide documents that could later become evidence in the ongoing investigation by the North Carolina State Board of Elections and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Stacy Holcomb, 57, stands in front of his home in Bladenboro, NC where he says was approached by a woman during the mid-term elections and offered assistance submitting an absentee ballot, an occurrence that many in Bladen County have said they had happen to them. The North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement decided not to certify the 9th Congressional District election results, which includes Bladen County, between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready due to possible voter fraud involving absentee ballots. The Washington Post Getty Images

But the two people said they showed the notes the next day to a third person, Bladen County Commissioner Ray Britt. Britt confirmed to WBTV on Tuesday that he reviewed the notes on April 9, 2018, and was told that they had been left behind at a meeting by Smith. The handwriting in the notes obtained by the station appears to resemble several publicly filed court documents and other official paperwork bearing Smith’s handwriting.

In this case, the votes involved a Republican primary for a county office, in case you were wondering how deeply that party has been infected by the prion disease.

The two people who attended the meeting at which Smith left the notes said Smith supported Billy Ward in the Republican Primary against incumbent Sheriff Jim McVicker. Smith has had a years-long, public feud with McVicker regarding the Sheriff’s efforts to close down his sweepstakes business.

The notes left behind by Smith specifically refer to receiving payment in exchange for collecting unsealed absentee ballots. “Picking up existing ballots unsealed,” the top line of the sheet says, with the word “unsealed” underlined twice. Below that line are two lines of notes showing payment of $500 for 150 ballots and $1,000 for 250 ballots. The notes reference the same payment scheme for picking up new request forms from properly registered voters.

It's rats fcking themselves, all the way down.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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