United states

Mark Meadows removed from North Carolina electoral roll amid fraud investigation

Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff at Trump’s White House, has been removed from North Carolina’s voter lists as officials investigate whether he fraudulently registered to vote and vote in the state during the 2020 presidential election. ., according to a local resident. election official.

Mr Meadows, who helped spread false allegations by former President Donald J. Trump for voter fraud was “administratively removed” from a Macon County Electoral Council poll book Monday “after documents show he lives in Virginia and last voted in the 2021 election there,” Patrick said in a statement. Gannon, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Electoral Council.

Mr. Meadows represented North Carolina in Congress until March 2020, when he went to work for the White House. Months later, Mr. Meadows and his wife, Debra, registered to vote using the address of a modest three-bedroom mobile home with a rusty roof in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

In the application for voter registration submitted by Mr. Meadows on September 19, 2020, he stated that he intended to move into the home the next day.

And in November, he voted absent by mail from that address, according to state records.

Last month’s report in The New Yorker questioned whether Mr Meadows had ever lived – or even spent the night – at home.

Mr Meadows did not respond immediately to telephone and text messages on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Meadows’ spokesman, Ben Williamson, declined to comment.

In 2021, Mr. Meadows registered to vote in Virginia, where he and his wife owned condominiums in the suburbs of Washington, ahead of the state’s contested gubernatorial election. Property records show that Mr. and Mrs. Meadows purchased the property in July 2017.

The investigation into Mr Meadows’ vote in North Carolina remains open, according to Andjanet Grube, a public information officer with the U.S. Bureau of Investigation.

Although documented cases of voter fraud are rare, Mr Meadows and other Republicans have taken advantage of the concept to argue, without evidence, that the results of the last presidential election were illegitimate.

In an interview with CNN in August 2020, Mr. Meadows warned of fraud in postal voting. “Do you realize how inaccurate voter lists are, with only people moving, not to mention people dying?” He told host Jake Tapper.

When Mr Tapper said there was no evidence of widespread voting fraud, Mr Meadows said: “There is no evidence that there is not. That’s the definition of fraud, Jake.

Reed J. Epstein contributed to the reports.