Republican Elizabeth McDowell Sat On The 2024 Mecklenburg County Board Of Elections. [Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, accessed 7/24/24]
Elizabeth McDowell Voted Against Certifying The November 2020 Election Results. “The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections certified its elections results, and for the first time in recent memory, the vote to certify wasn’t unanimous. In a 3-2 vote along party lines, two Republican board members — Elizabeth McDowell and Mary Potter Summa — voted against certifying the results. Summa said she believes the order that came down from the State Board of Elections adjusting some of the requirements for absentee by-mail voting violates state law.” [WFAE, 11/14/20]
2016: Elizabeth McDowell Voted To Shorten Mecklenburg County’s Early Voting Hours And Number Of Early Voting Sites. “Mecklenburg County ’s early voting strategy will be decidedly different from 2012. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Elections voted Monday to shorten hours and sites for the 2016 elections. The panel’s Republican majority of Mary Potter Summa and Elizabeth McDowell voted to open six sites the first week and 22 over the final 10 days for a total of 2,054 hours. Democrat Carol Williams opposed. The meeting came on the heels of a July 29 decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn North Carolina’s voter ID law. The federal ruling eliminated the photo identification restriction while restoring same-day registration, pre-registration for 16-and 17-year-olds and out-of-precinct voting. Counties have to decide by Aug. 19 a strategy to make as many as 17 days of early voting available between Oct. 20-Nov. 5.” [Charlotte Post, 8/18/16]
Elizabeth McDowell Said “Fraud Was Happening” And That Early Voting Needed To Be Cut Back For The Sake Of Election “Integrity.” “Early Thursday evening, Liz McDowell appeared before the N.C. Board of Elections in Raleigh to argue on behalf of Mecklenburg County’s early voting plan. By then, the state board had considered more than two dozen such plans, but they hadn’t heard anything Thursday like what was to come. McDowell, a Republican who is a member of Mecklenburg’s Board of Elections, said that early voting needed to be cut back for the sake of election ‘integrity.’ Fraud was happening, she said, and she proceeded to describe all the ways, including elderly people and the ‘mentally infirmed’ being taken advantage of at voting precincts.” [Charlotte Observer, Editorial, 9/12/16]
Elizabeth McDowell Said Voters Were “Victimized By Too Enthusiastic Campaign Officials” Telling Voters How To Vote. “Making the case for less early voting, Mecklenburg election board member Liz McDowell said the lack of precinct judges at early voting sites leads to problems such as ‘voter harassment.’ She says voters are ‘victimized by too enthusiastic campaign officials’ who follow them into the polls and tell them how to vote. State law bans campaigning inside polling places. ‘Are you serious?’ state board member Joshua Malcolm asked McDowell.” [News & Observer, 9/8/16]
Elizabeth McDowell Reportedly Claimed She Had “Reports” Of People With Dementia Being Dragged Into Early Voting Booths By “Suspicious Persons.” “The Republican member from Mecklenburg who attended, Elizabeth M. McDowell, laid down a base-line series of accusations against early voting in Mecklenburg that seemed frankly unhinged. She asked the SBOE members to ‘prevent voters from being used by both parties.’ Seriously. She talked about people with dementia being dragged into the booth to vote by suspicious persons unknown and about the victimization of the elderly, and ‘Are you serious?’ Malcolm interrupted. McDowell, suddenly on the defensive: ‘I have reports of these things happening.’ Malcolm: ‘Did you witness these things?’ McDowell: ‘Well, no, but I have reports.’ From then on, McDowell's credibility was toast. Who on the SBOE would volunteer to be associated with that?” [Watauga Watch, Blog, 9/10/16]