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Bladen Board of Elections Receive
Election Protest Notifications
Three candidates for political office in the May 8th
primary have presented an Election Protest to the
Bladen County Board of Elections. Those
protesting include Mathew (Matt) J. Dixon, Robert
Wayne Brooks and Albert C. Beatty.
Dixon was a candidate for the North Carolina House
of Representatives, District 22. Brooks was a
candidate for Bladen County Commissioner, District 1
and Beatty was a candidate for County Commissioner
At-Large. Beatty has indicated he may
withdraw his protest. Dixon, an
Elizabethtown Attorney, alleges two types of
election law violations. In the information
delivered to the local Board or Elections, he says
in his petition, "This protest involves two types of
election law violations. The first concerns
vote buying in violation of N.C.G.S. 163-275(2).
The second concerns interference with the proper
procedures for absentee voting, potentially in
violation of N.C.G.S. 163-226.3(a)(1), (4), (6), and
(7) and of N.C.G.S 163-231(a) and other absentee
ballot laws." Dixon provides what he
describes as background information, to explain why
he believes the irregularities have occurred in
greater volume than the specific incidents cited in
the protest - that indeed they have occurred to such
an extent that "they taint the results of the entire
election and cast doubt on its fairness." N.C.G.S.
163-182.13(a)(4). Because of this, he, the
protester, believes the voters of House District 22
are entitled to a new election. His protest
continues, "Certain sections of Bladen County have
historically engaged in a get out the vote (GOTV)
effort. These areas include, but are not
limited to, East Arcadia, Elizabethtown, and
Bladenboro. Specifically, individuals, called
"runners", are paid $10 to $15 per voter they can
bring to the polls. They are expected and
encouraged to bring 20 voters to the polls per day,
and are normally paid around $200.00 per day.
The majority of this activity occurs during the
one-stop, or early voting period." "In these
same sections of the county," he continues, "the
runners are also known to become involved in the
absentee mail-in ballot system. They insert
themselves into this process by delivering the
ballots to the voters, and assisting the voters with
completing the ballots. Upon information and
belief, this has also occurred in nursing and rest
homes." "When the runners become involved
with a voter, they provide him or her with a "Sample
Ballot". The circles next to certain
candidates are already filled in on the sample
ballot, thus indicating how the ballot should be
completed by the voter,i.e., who they should vote
for. The candidates whose names appear next to
the filled circles shall hereinafter be referred to
as "endorsed candidates". Dixon continues,
"Most of the sample ballots are produced by the
Bladen Improvement Association PAC (hereinafter
referred to as PAC), which is a political action
committee based in Bladen County. The PAC
"endorses" certain candidates who then contribute
financially to the PAC. In April, 2012,
William Brisson donated $4,000.00 to the PAC, along
with other candidates who contributed lesser
amounts. Upon information and belief, all
candidates who contributed to the PAC in 2012 were
included on the sample ballot of candidates for whom
the voters should vote. Also upon information
and belief, almost all of these candidates won their
respective 2012 Democratic Primary election."
He cited statistics from the election for Governor
and NC House District 22, for Bladen and Sampson
counties indicating that NC House 22 received more
votes than those cast for Governor, in a sampling of
Bladen County precincts, that are not split in the
Democratic Primary. While a similar sampling
in Sampson County indicated a higher number of
Governor votes were cast. Dixon alleged,
vote buying, in some instances the voter was paid in
the form of cash, alcohol and other compensation, in
exchange for being taken to the polls and voting for
the candidate the runner was working for. He
cited other specific such transactions using John
Does 1, 2 and 3. "All these violations are
very serious and carry felony penalties, witnesses
and participants understandably desire
confidentiality and immunity", he added. He
produced what he labeled Absentee Voting Violations
that indicated more absentee ballots were mailed out
in Bladen County than counties with a higher number
of voters. 9,327 voters cast a ballot in
Bladen, 238 were absentee mail-in ballots.
Sampson had 13,197 votes cast with only 55
absentees. Johnston County had 36,016 votes
cast with only 104 absentee ballots.
Cumberland County had 50,140 votes cast and 247
absentees. Dixon pointed out that Bladen and
Cumberland had similar number of absentee ballots
but Cumberland had 5 times more total votes. In the
race for county commissioner in District 1, which
includes the East Arcadia area, a PAC endorsed
candidate received 112 votes from absentee ballots,
the non-endorsed candidate received 14. In the
District 2 race, which includes Bladenboro, the PAC
endorsed candidate received 73 votes from absentee
ballots, the non-endorsed candidate received 2.
The Election Protest prepared by Dixon describes how
ballots arrive at the Board of Elections in a sealed
envelope. On the back of the envelope, the voter
provides his or her signature, and a witness
provides his or her signature and address. The
ballots are removed and counted, but the envelopes
are retained by the Board as a part of their record.
"A review of the envelopes yielded striking results.
One individual, with a Riegelwood address, who will
be identified as Jane Doe, witnessed 21 absentee
ballots." He stated that 23% of the absentee
ballots were witnessed by four people. He
concludes his Protest by stating, "The nature of
felony penalties coupled with community pressure on
potential witnesses underscore the need for an
official Board of Elections investigation."
Brisson, the incumbent, defeated Dixon by an
unofficial margin of 326 votes in a hard fought
contest. Dixon received a total of 2,513 in Sampson
and Johnston to Brisson's 1,541. Brisson
received 3,585 votes in Bladen County to Dixons
2,285. Robert W. Brooks made many similar
allegations in his Election Protest letter to the
Board. Beatty simply stated under
irregularties his concern about the number of
absentee ballots signed by two or three people.
The Bladen County Board of Elections has called a
Special Meeting for Tuesday, May 22 at 10 AM for the
preliminary consideration regarding the election
protests.
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