• The Board of Elections was faced with a number of complaints that allege, among other things, Republican workers were mistreated and outnumbered. One complaint calls for two poll workers to be replaced.

By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

A poll worker chatting on a cell phone, a mother correcting her son’s ballot after he left the polling place, and someone spitting on another person are allegations that have surfaced in the settling dust of the Nov. 7 elections.

The Board of Elections must now decide what action, if any, will be taken in response to the complaints. Monday, the board had not determined a date for any follow-up meetings related to the complaints but said none of the complaints filed were official complaints that challenged the outcome of the election.

Republican Party Chairman Jerry Fowler said that three precincts had too many Democrats on Election Day, Republican workers outside the buffer were mistreated, and Republican judges and assistants were not used correctly.

“You are the only person that has ever complained of too many workers,” Board of Elections member Frank Stanley said. “The one complaint we will get is if we don’t have enough.

“We begged you and begged you to get Republican workers there and you couldn’t get them there,” Stanley added, pointing out a shortage of Republican workers. He said the board has the right to ensure the election is run properly and to fill gaps when needed.

Robert Adams expressed concern over an individual being spit on outside a polling place. “It’s part of your responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen,” Adams told the board. “That’s one area I don’t want my right infringed upon at all.”

“We have established in the minds of workers what the process is,” Board Chairman Jesse Graham said. “Outside the 50-foot marker we (have) no jurisdiction out there.”

“We have no control over what a person says or does,” Stanley added, indicating “that type of altercation” should be taken to a magistrate. “Let’s say we don’t have an election and someone spits on you,” Stanley said.

“Any other day it is not your business; on Election Day it is your business,” Adams replied.

Graham said as quick as the board got word of the Nakina Fire and Rescue polling location incident the situation was dealt with. Director Carla Strickland spoke with Ronald Gore on the telephone immediately after the board was contacted.

Stanley drove to the Nakina Fire and Rescue station, saw the tent was taken down and witnessed no disruptions. “When I went there was no problem,” Stanley said.

“I saw a lot of what these people saw,” Sammy Hinson, who lost the District 7 Commissioner race to Gore, said.

“You’ve got some problems over on that end of the county,” Hinson, who had poll workers in the area, said. He said a Republican poll worker was not allowed to work at one precinct.

“A worker got spit on –its not hearsay, it’s true,” Hinson insisted. “That was a hostile atmosphere over and around. One of the poll worker’s husband was in the 50-foot buffer walking around, cussing.

“Stuff needs to be fixed. There were even kids in the polls that evening.

“There are some good people there but it (doesn’t) take but two or three. All the ones that weren’t ran right, I lost –that’s sour grapes,” Hinson said. “I lost by 364 votes. That’s not a lot of votes when you have three or four precincts that (have) hanky panky going on.

“If something’s not done about it, Frank (Stanley), it’s going to get worse, not better,” Hinson declared.

Candidates need to know the statutes and rules ahead of time, Stanley said. “There is a responsibility on the voter side, heads of the parties, and a responsibility on our part to know. It’s not just one-sided.”

Hinson said if you have people working for you, not doing their job, you replace them.

“We heard you, we heard you loud and clear,” Graham told citizens at the Monday afternoon meeting.

Leo Mercer said he couldn’t understand why people didn’t get in touch with the board on the day of the election, although Ward said several calls were made. He said the board was unaware of anyone coming in and out of the polling location all day long.

“What happened that day we can’t go back and change,” Mercer said. “We can try to take what happened that day and prevent it from happening again.”

“What happened to holding people accountable for their actions?” a Whiteville resident, Jim Hammond asked.

“What happened that day is behind us,” Mercer insisted. “We can go over it and over it and over it. It happened. Take it and try to prevent it.”

“I’m not on the Board of Elections. I know enough to know that what went on was against the law,” Debbie Ward said. She is a Nakina Rescue Worker who filed a complaint over the incident that involved Commissioner-elect Ronald Gore.

“Nobody deserved to go through what I went through,” Ward said.

Other written complaints to the board include:

One Republican poll worker at the South Williams precinct alleging another poll worker asked a voter who had left to fill out another ballot for her son because when the ballot was placed in the machine it was rejected. The poll worker also alleges that yet another worker talked on a cell phone.

Another engaged in unnecessary conversation with voters for long periods, one voter was allowed to have his brother fill out his ballot for him as he stood to the side, and people were allowed to stay in the building after voting and throughout the day come in and sit around.

“I felt threatened by him and felt that he was trying to intimidate me,” the poll worker states in a letter about another worker. “If they can’t abide by the rules, they shouldn’t be allowed to work the polls,” the letter continues.