in the 2018 general election, dowless has been accused of paying workers to illegally collect absentee ballots from voters, after harris had directed the hiring of dowless for his campaign, despite the allegations concerning his efforts in prior campaigns. there had been warnings about and concerns raised in 2016 that dowless used questionable tactics to deliver votes for todd johnson in his 2016 republican congressional primary against pittinger and harris. earlier, dowless had worked for a democrat competing in a 2012 state house primary, and ran as a democrat himself, in a losing race for school board, in 2014. no questions had been raised in those races.