Election board finds no violation of law

The Sampson County Board of Election svoted unanimously Tuesday morning to dismiss a protest against the county over claims of voter ID violations, filed by Jefferson Griffin, candidate for Seat 6 on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

The initial protest from Griffin claimed there were issues with votes counted, which should have been removed, for people who died or were convicted of a crime between the early voting period and Election Day. The protest, regarding felon voting, was officially withdrawn by the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) legal team Monday afternoon.

The board, however, had to convene Tuesday to proceed with a hearing to document the handling of ballots cast by deceased voters.

“This hearing is only going to be in regards to the protest of death,” noted Niya Rayner, director of local Board of Elections. “Yesterday (Monday), late afternoon, at 4 p.m., we did get a notice from NCGOP legal team for a withdrawal of protest for Samson County. But, with the letter for withdrawal of protest, it only really specifies the felon protest.”

Rayner further noted that Sampson didn’t have a protest on removed registration but only for felons, deceased voters and UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act). In that withdrawal, according to Rayner, it did not specify deceased voters, and the state recommended the election board hold the hearing.

“Remember, the state took jurisdiction over the UOCAVA, so because they didn’t specify the deceased protest in this, the state did say to go on and do a hearing on the deceased protest, because they didn’t specify it,” she said. “I did send them a reminder notice, that we did not have the information for the witness they had in their protest to subpoena; because all I had was his name, and the affidavit (sworn statement put in writing.), that he did live in Lexington.

“So, I was trying to inform them that I could not contact their witness they wanted at our protest to make sure everyone’s there, just as a reminder,” Rayner added, “that’s when they came back with a withdrawal.”

She further stated that cause for withdrawal was also due to the NCGOP legal team conducting their own investigations and finding no basis for the claims.

“They did things, as far as due diligence; they have looked at the updated voter history, but, I am still going to go over the evidence for the desk just so it’s on record; since it was not specified in their withdrawal,” Rayner stated. “The overall protest for felons in general, is withdrawal and they looked at the voter history to see that we did not count the felons.

“There was one name in particular that we did count,” Rayner said. “But, when you look at the name and social security number, it is different, it does not match. So, I guess, they did their own research with that one too, and so they withdrew, but they did not specify about the deceased protest, because there’s different protests.”

There were questions of clarification as to what the protest was claiming from board members in which Rayner read the official protest.

“They are protesting that we counted those votes on the protest, as it says,” Rayner stated. “It appears that the county board of elections has counted ballots cast by voters who were deceased on election day.”

Rayner also noted that the protest on deceased voters’ allegations was based on an audit conducted by the state prior to the official canvass of votes.

“The state did canvas before Thanksgiving for voter history, and so those four names are not counted in the totals for this general election,” Rayner stressed. “He (Griffin), it appears, went only based on the audit from the state, but this audit that the state did was before we even canvassed. So before that, he protested and challenged, but those names were not counted.”

Rayner also mentioned that each name was reviewed against death records and voter registration data. Ballots identified as belonging to deceased voters were officially challenged and removed from the vote totals. Notices were sent to the affected individuals’ addresses, providing an opportunity to dispute the findings, were they not deceased, if the information was incorrect.

The last inquiry was in regards to the proper steps the board needed to take to respond to the protest.

“Based on the evidence that I have presented, and because there is no other party here to present or give evidence based on the facts and evidence I have presented, the board can decide if there was a violation of law or based on evidence there was no violation of law, and you can dismiss the protest,” the elections director told members.

The motion to dismiss the protest was made by elections board member Dwight Williams Jr., and seconded by Coley Michael Warren. All voted unanimously in favor.

In an email statement released early Tuesday afternoon, Rayner said, “The NC State Board of Elections is requiring all counties to begin the recount on Thursday.”

“The board found there was no violation of law, but we still have to do the recount, as instructed.”

The next regular meeting, and hand-to-eye recount for the NC Supreme Court Associate Justice, Seat 6, will be Thursday, Dec. 5, at 9 a.m.