RALEIGH, NC — Voters in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district will soon be headed back to the voting booth to determine who will fill the U.S. House seat that has been left unfilled amid allegations of ballot fraud. In a stunning reversal amid an ongoing investigation into the voting irregularities, Republican candidate and unofficial winner of the race Mark Harris has called for a new election.

Soon after, the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously Thursday to order a new election to fill the seat.

In the more than three months since Harris narrowly bested Democratic challenger Dan McCready for House seat by 905 votes, allegations and evidence have mounted indicating a political operative hired by Harris’ campaign illegally manipulated the vote tally through absentee ballot fraud.

Harris declared victory over McCready, however, the North Carolina State Board of Elections twice refused to certify the results after “claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities related to absentee mail ballots,” the board’s vice chair Joshua Malcolm said, The Charlotte Observer reported.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics, alongside the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations and the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, launched investigations into the alleged fraudulent activities that stem from the actions of a political worker for Harris, who is accused of fraudulently obtaining and altering absentee ballots in Bladen County.

In December, McCready withdrew his concession.

Harris has long denied knowing about the scheme and last month sued to force election officials to certify the results, claiming there wasn’t enough evidence that the ballot tampering swayed the final result.

Thursday, on the third day of testimony in a board of elections hearing on the matter including that of his son refuting his claims, Harris abruptly called for a new election.

Harris said Thursday while reading a statement that he had suffered two strokes as a result of an illness last month and was still recovering.

“Though I thought I was ready to undergo the rigors of this hearing and getting stronger, I clearly am not. I struggled this morning with both recall and confusion,” he said. “Neither I nor the leadership of my campaign were aware of or condone the improper activities that have been testified to in this hearing,” he said.

“Through the testimony I’ve listened to over the last three days, I believe a new election should be called. It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.”

The new election date has yet to be determined by the NCSBE.

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