republicans, and one unaffiliated member, they all voted not to certify this race, which was a surprise to pretty much everybody. and the reason they refused to certify it was the apparent tomfoolery that went on with the absentee mail-in ballots in the race in one county in particular, with an unusually high number of absentee ballots being requested and an unusually high percentage of those ballots never being returned. and of those that were returned, an unusually high number of those going for mark harris, the republican. the north carolina democratic party submitted to the state elections board several affidavits from black voters in that county, many of them elderly, saying that people came to their homes and collected their absentee ballots, in some cases offering to fill out the ballots for them. for instance, one woman swore in her affidavit that a woman came to her house saying she was collecting people s absentee ballots in the area. quote, i filled out two names on the ball