District 9 defendant: Didn't know actions were illegal, 'don't know nothing about politics'

One of the women charged in connection with election fraud in North Carolina's 9th Congressional district claims she is an innocent led astray by a long-time acquaintance.

After a court appearance Monday, Ginger Shae Eason told WRAL News she is angry at McCrae Dowless and didn't understand how her actions could land her in legal trouble.

"I hope nothing don’t happen to me because I’m innocent because I didn’t know none of this was illegal," she said. "I don’t know nothing about politics. I still don’t."

Eason says Dowless hired her and others for a small amount of money to register voters, pick up absentee ballots from their homes and deliver them to the headquarters of Republican Congressional candidate Mark Harris – ballots that were never turned in.

It's a felony in North Carolina to take someone else's absentee ballot.

"He asked me to pick the ballots up. I didn’t know that was illegal," Eason said. "He asked me to pick them up. The few I did pick up, I dropped them off at the office."

Eason, who faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and illegal possession of an absentee ballot, pointed the finger at Dowless as the ringleader of the alleged fraud.

Dowless, the Bladen County political operative accused of running a ballot harvesting operation, is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice, illegal possession of an absentee ballot, perjury and solicitation to commit perjury.

According to testimony from a State Board of Elections hearing in February, Dowless paid people to go door to door to first sign people up to vote by mail and later to collect those absentee ballots. Dowless' crew sometimes completed ballots for voters and also witnessed dozens of absentee ballots in a central office instead of in front of individual voters, witnesses said during the hearing.

Eason told WRAL News that she worked for Dowless for a few weeks and made just $175. She says on one occasion she saw him throw an envelope in the trash at the campaign headquarters which she believed contained absentee ballots.

Dowless also appeared in court Monday. He asked a judge to appoint him a public defender after his attorney, Tommy Manning, asked to withdraw from the case.

Also charged are Lisa Michelle Britt, Kelly Hendrix, Woody Darrel Hester and James R. Singletary. Hester appeared in court Monday; the others were represented by their lawyers.

The case is back in court on Sept. 23.