The Daily - Introducing: ‘The Improvement Association,’ From the Makers of Serial

Episode Date: May 1, 2021

For at least a decade, allegations of cheating have swirled around elections in rural Bladen County, N.C. Some people point fingers at a Black advocacy group, the Bladen County Improvement Association, accusing it of bullying voters, tampering with ballots and stealing votes outright. These allegations have never been substantiated, but they persist. The reporter Zoe Chace went to Bladen County to investigate what’s really going on. From the makers of Serial and The New York Times, this five-part audio series about allegations of election fraud -- and the powerful forces that fuel them -- is out now. Binge the whole series, and find out more here: https://nytimes.com/improvementassociation

Hey, it's Michael. I want to tell you about a new audio series from the makers of Serial and the New York Times. It's called The Improvement Association. It's a story about race, politics, fraud, and power, and just how far people will go to win an election. Take a listen to this quick preview and to the entire series, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. There is one glaring example, one, of an election fraud case that Republicans and Democrats agree happened. It was 2018 in North Carolina, the only time in recent history,

recent like the last 80 years, that a congressional election was thrown out for fraud. Democrats like to talk about this case because it was Republicans who did the cheating. Republicans like to talk about it without mentioning who did the cheating because it proves that election fraud does happen, which it does. Not very often, but it does. I like to talk about this case because of how personal the whole thing was, how rooted in this one county. It wasn't the result of some complex national conspiracy to rig voting machines. It was individual people in a tight-knit place,

using their relationships to either make money or take revenge or both. It looks like this. In the midterm election of 2018, this guy Mark Harris, white, Republican, former Baptist pastor, ran for Congress in North Carolina. Seemed at first like he definitely won. He beat the Democrat by 905 votes. like he definitely won. He beat the Democrat by 905 votes. But in one of the counties in his district, Bladen County, the number of absentee ballots was suspiciously high. Way out of whack with the rest of the district. Before the election was even over, wild complaints from voters were

pouring in. People said their absentee ballots had been taken from their homes and then their ballots had never made it into the Board of Elections to be counted. Or that they handed their blank ballots to others to be filled out. Or that their signatures were forged. The State Board of Elections held a big hearing to figure out

what was going on. So you were filling in the ovals and voting for other people, right? Yes, sir. You were voting other people's ballots. Yes, sir. Right. I assume you knew that it was not legal to vote other people's ballots. Right. We were paid to do. I understand you, but you were paid to do something that you knew was wrong. Yes, sir. Not long after this all happened, I got a call in the middle of the night. Hello, Ms. Chase. Is this Horace?

It was Horace Munn. I was like, what the hell? Because I knew Horace. I knew he was the head of the political arm of a Black Democratic organization in Bladen called the Bladen County Improvement Association. He had something he wanted to explain to me about that hearing. He wanted to explain the entire world it had come from. He texted, Hi, just thinking and wanted to know if you would consider doing an article

about the South and Bladen County. I did consider it. From Serial Productions, I'm Zoe Chase, and this is the Improvement Association. The entire series is now available. Again, to find it, search for the Improvement Association wherever you get your podcasts. And thanks.