It would make "a lot of sense" for North Carolina's state legislature to allocate the swing state's electors to former President Donald Trump without waiting around for votes to be counted, according to House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md.
His comments are drawing backlash from Democrats, who called his proposal "un-American."
The Maryland Republican told a speaker Thursday at a Republican Party dinner in Maryland’s Talbot County, that with the devastation in North Carolina's western region from Hurricane Helene, the state's GOP legislature would have a reason to declare in advance that Trump should get the state's 16 crucial electoral votes, reports Politico.
The region's residents are expected to vote heavily for Trump, and Harris said that statistically, "you know what the vote probably would have been" in the 25 counties involved.
"Which would be — if I were in the legislature — enough to go, ‘Yeah we have to convene the legislature. We can’t disenfranchise the voters,'" he said.
“Extreme Republican leaders are openly advocating that North Carolina’s electoral votes be given to Donald Trump without an election," Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said in response.
"For the first time in North Carolina’s history, voters could be denied their right to choose the president," he added. "This blood-chilling scheme, suggested by the chair of the so-called House Freedom Caucus, is anti-American."
Harris' comments came after the dinner's keynote speaker, pro-Trump activist Ivan Raiklin, gave his speech.
Raiklin is well known for embracing a strategy to allow state legislatures to guarantee Trump's victory if they believe the 2024 election has been tainted by corruption.
He posted his speech on X, along with a separate clip of his talk with Harris.
Raiklin told the audience that along with North Carolina, GOP majority legislatures in New Hampshire, Arizona, Nebraska, Georgia, and Wisconsin could also meet on Election Day to award electors to Trump.
But Harris told Raiklin that he was concerned how other states that were not affected by storm damage could make the move to hand over their electors before the ballots are counted.
"It looks like just a power play," Harris told him. "In North Carolina, it’s legitimate. There are a lot of people that aren’t going to get to vote and it may make the difference in that state."
Constitutionally, state legislatures are empowered to allocate votes in the Electoral College. All 50 states do so based on the popular vote from their residents.
In North Carolina, election officials have been working to address the challenges being faced after the storm, including adding early voting sites and expanding the ability for voters to get absentee ballots even if they are outside their home county.
Jason Simmons, chair of the North Carolina GOP, told Newsmax this week that areas of the state hit by Helene have already been voting in a "record turnout" during the state's early voting period.
"More than a million North Carolinians have already cast a ballot," Simmons said. "Republican turnout is way up. Democrat turnout is way down. People are ready to fire [Democrat presidential nominee] Kamala Harris and send her home."
Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told reporters Friday that he has not heard any plans from lawmakers to take the steps Raiklin and Andy Harris discussed.
"It makes no sense whatsoever to prejudge the election outcome," he said about Andy Harris' comments. "That is a misinformed view of what is happening on the ground in North Carolina, bless his heart."