Posted on 11/01/2025 10:43:37 AM PDT by Red Badger
Text messages allegedly offering voters $100 to support Democrat candidates in New Hanover County. The North Carolina Republican Party is demanding an investigation into what appears to be a cash-for-votes operation in New Hanover County.
Text messages allegedly offered voters $100 to cast ballots for three Democrat candidates in Wilmington’s City Council race.
If confirmed, this would mark one of the most blatant examples of election corruption in recent state history—and it mirrors a scandal that erupted in Gary, Indiana.
In that 2023 case, Democrat precinct officials and campaign workers were charged with voter fraud after investigators discovered a coordinated effort to pay voters for absentee ballots.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed felony conspiracy charges against multiple operatives who exchanged cash for votes, a scheme that prosecutors said “struck at the very core of the democratic process.”
Investigators found text messages, financial records, and testimony from voters who admitted they were promised small cash payments—often between $50 and $100—in return for casting absentee ballots for Democrat-backed candidates.
The similarities between the Gary and Wilmington cases are striking. Both operations allegedly used campaign “volunteers” or intermediaries to reach voters directly.
Both involved text communications offering explicit financial incentives tied to named Democrat candidates.
And in both states, the alleged payments targeted low-income residents—people more likely to be swayed by quick cash during election season.
In each case, the goal was the same: to manufacture turnout for one party by turning the ballot box into a marketplace.
In North Carolina, reports indicate that messages even included links to the official county elections website to make the bribe appear legitimate.
One recipient, struggling to pay an electric bill, allegedly asked when the cash would arrive.
The response promised that a “team member” would meet them near a polling site and pay them in cash after voting. If verified, those involved could face serious criminal bribery charges under both state and federal law.
Republicans have long advocated for voter ID laws, signature verification, and harsher penalties for election crimes.
Democrats, however, have repeatedly fought those safeguards, dismissing them as “voter suppression.”
Yet cases like these prove the opposite. When voters can be openly bribed to cast a ballot, faith in elections erodes—and every lawful vote is devalued.
North Carolina’s history of razor-thin elections means the stakes are enormous. A few hundred fraudulent votes could decide control of a city council—or even a statewide race.
That’s why the NCGOP acted quickly, referring evidence to the State Board of Elections and calling for a full investigation.
The Wilmington scandal is a warning that what happened in Indiana wasn’t an anomaly but part of a broader pattern.
When one-party machines operate without oversight, corruption becomes routine. Protecting democracy means demanding transparency, accountability, and real consequences for those who betray the public trust.
What happens next in Wilmington will determine whether North Carolina chooses clean elections—or political convenience.
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They have to. Honor among thieves.............
In some instances the electorate and the politician are coin operated. Pathetic…. I hope the justice system nails them to a wall.
In some instances the electorate and the politician are “coin operated.” Pathetic….......
Great observation.
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