County elections boards dismiss most voting challenges

The Bladen County Board of Elections described absentee ballots with “overtly similar” handwriting in a November 2 letter to the state Board of Elections. A GOP lawyer is expected to present evidence of Election Day wrongful or illegal conduct to the Durham elections board on Wednesday backing the governor’s demand for a quick, manual recount.

“The Republican Party’s decision to challenge elections in 12 counties that had active Get-Out-The-Vote efforts by African American Political Action Committees demonstrates the desperation and continued voter intimidation of Republicans”, Butterfield said.

More than 60,000 provisional ballots were cast on Election Day or during early voting. Pat McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper – are separated by just 5,000 votes.

“That’s really disappointing. He (McCrory) just needs to recognize that he lost the election”, said Kevin Hamilton, an attorney for Cooper. The DMV said Friday that it has delivered information connected to about 8,100 driver’s license numbers.

McCrory is trailing Democrat Roy Cooper by 5,000 votes with more ballots yet to be counted. “Stark and others in this community feel that, and with some justification, that there’s something fishy going on here”, Brian said after he seconded his fellow Republican’s vote, overruling the objection of the board’s lone Democrat. Pat McCrory signed a bill - later ruled unconstitutional - that was written with the intention to suppress African-American voters “with nearly surgical precision”. McCrory had been leading until then, but fell behind Cooper once those votes were added to the statewide results.

Still more delays are in store as McCrory’s campaign supports allegations of hard-knuckled fraud lodged by voters in more than half the state’s 100 counties. His work takes a closer look at government, politics and policy in North Carolina and their impact on the lives of everyday people.

Patrick McCrory, whose reelection bid remains too close to call, is seizing on reports of potential voter fraud to raise questions about the integrity of last week’s election.

The Republican Governor has filed challenges in fifty counties, alleging that convicted felons and even dead people voted. The complaint alleged that equipment problems encountered on Election Day may mean the vote count may be inaccurate.

The board voted 2-1, down party lines, in favor of the Friday hearing. The three board members spent two hours listening to witnesses and decided a software glitch that blocked votes from being uploaded to the statewide tally didn’t have anything to do with accurately logging votes.

Formal protests are now being filed in 11 additional counties to challenge potentially fraudulent absentee ballots cast for Roy Cooper and other Democrats, according to Governor Pat McCrory’s campaign.

The State Board of Elections is investigating “irregularities” with Bladen County absentee ballots, where volunteers might have helped people fill out ballots without disclosing that they did so, which state law requires.