The Surry County Board of Elections has really helpful the Dobson Board of Commissioners’ race be rerun as a result of a ballot employee was concerned in irregularities throughout the Nov. 8 normal election.
The board made the advice to the state board of elections throughout a listening to held by the native board in Dobson on Tuesday.
A problem was filed by Dobson City Commissioner candidate and native enterprise proprietor John Jonczak over conduct by a ballot employee which will have unduly influenced voters. A second problem was filed by James E. Yokeley over the identical conduct by ballot staff.
After consideration, the county board really helpful that the state maintain a brand new election for the Dobson Commissioners race. Both challenges handed the Board of Elections by a 3-2 vote, with Board members Clark Comer and Drew Poindexter voting towards shifting each challenges.
Sharon Gates-Hodges died simply days earlier than the final election wherein she and Jonczak have been working for certainly one of two seats on the Dobson commissioner. Asked on the time concerning the implications of the upcoming normal election, the county’s Elections Manager, Michella Huff, mentioned the Gates-Hodges title would seem as soon as voting had began.
On Election Day, J. Wayne Atkins and Walter White each received their bids for re-election by two seats in a four-way race, however the integrity of the method is in query. At Tuesday’s hearings, the board heard testimony alleging {that a} ballot employee in Dobson instructed voters on Election Day that candidate Gates-Hodges had died.
This act could also be construed as a tacit endorsement of a candidate aside from the deceased, which the bipartisan electoral fee and its representatives will not be approved to do.
The incumbents received the 2 seats that have been on the poll, with Atkins receiving 184 votes, White a complete of 167, and Jonczak the vote of 159 residents.
The distinction between the full votes in second and third place was solely eight votes, 1.29% of the full vote, with Gates-Hodges nonetheless receiving 106 votes. One of them was Nancy Hill, who fortunately voted for her late good buddy.
Hill was a canary within the coal mine and gave a first-hand account of Election Day habits. She despatched Jonczak a blind e-mail as the 2 didn’t know one another however Hill knew the Jonczak kids from camps and church teams. “You don’t know me… but I was hoping you were one of our commissioners.”
In an affidavit, Hill mentioned the ballot employee suggested her that Sharon Gates-Hodges had handed away. “I used to be a very good buddy of hers and nonetheless voted for her. I questioned if it might be moral for the voters to inform voters {that a} candidate had died… Something was improper,” she wrote to Jonczak.
James E. Yokeley testified in an affidavit that on election day a ballot employee instructed the couple in entrance of him that one of many candidates had handed away: “This person is reported to have passed away, I understand,” they have been instructed. Coming to the entrance, the identical ballot employee pointed to the title Jonczak and recognized him as deceased.
“I was initially confused as I had just met him in the parking lot,” he mentioned. “My conclusion was that if I was confused, there was a strong possibility that more, if not all, of the voters that the same poll worker helped were also confused, resulting in negative repercussions for Jonczak and putting him at an unfair disadvantage.”
There was no dialogue of the willful misconduct of the ballot employee.
Commissioner Tim DeHaan mentioned the ballot employee was merely improper. Jonczak was comparable on the time of the incident. “I don’t think they did it maliciously, but hopefully they can do better in the future.”
As the problem neared their closing vote, Comer expressed his displeasure with the method and that the movement to endorse Jonczak’s petition had been introduced ahead with out dialogue earlier than he might transfer his movement to dismiss. He felt there was a scarcity of proof and a few data was contradictory. “It’s very completely different. This is opposite to what we heard on the earlier listening to.”
He criticized the best way the ballot clerk knowledgeable voters concerning the late candidate – in a single case the clerk mentioned Gates-Hodges handed, in one other it was claimed the clerk pointed to the stub of the poll and a voter to it requested to decide on two, and that Gates-Hodges had handed. Yokeley mentioned he was instructed by the identical employee that Jonczak had died.
With solely 4 candidates, three of whom are alive, an election with 619 votes has turn into tough.
“That certainly changes the dynamic of where the votes go when narrowed down to three candidates,” Comer mentioned, acknowledging the ballot employee was improper. “There was still misconduct by a campaign worker … albeit in a different form.”
strategy to recourse
There have been solely 4 doable outcomes from Tuesday’s listening to. One was to right the vote depend; In this case, the depend itself was not the issue. Second, a recount could possibly be carried out, however with the identical variety of ballots solid and solely an eight-vote margin, there was little probability that the consequence would change.
The county authority might elect to ship the problem to Raleigh for additional investigation, or finally take “any other action deemed necessary” to resolve the problem. Holding a brand new election can be thought-about a part of “any other action”.
Commissioner Tim DeHaan vigorously challenged the method, recognizing that it was pointless to tackle the problem two methods. He mentioned the ballot employee mistakenly gave a clue as to how a voter ought to vote.
“If we send it to the state and they ask for two different reliefs” that first right the vote depend or name new elections, “but hasn’t come up with an argument or justification for the first one, we have to separate down here before it goes to the state.” , or can we ship the entire thing to the state and have it separated? requested DeHaan.
He continued by declaring that Jonczak had not introduced any proof to assist the declare that the vote depend itself was improper. “He has presented no evidence or allegations of voting wrongdoing … we are eliminating that part of the discussion.”
Jonczak was as optimistic as one may count on after the listening to, saying the consequence was “not unexpected”. He was clear that he felt Huff and the Surry County Board of Elections had dealt with the problem nicely and with nice transparency: “We’ve been in touch throughout.”
He expressed concern Wednesday that two members of the election committee discovered there was inadequate proof to advance both problem, though Huff mentioned in her election-day incident report that the ballot employee admitted informing voters a couple of deceased candidate to have.
“I spoke to the poll worker and asked him” about Jonczak’s allegation. “They said they told voters the candidate passed away because,” the ballot official instructed Huff, “I thought I should let people know.”
Huff instructed the board that normal ballot employee coaching covers this and that: “No matter what the issue, you don’t know anything about a candidate when you’re working the polls.”
She mentioned the method labored as it ought to, with a listening to that allowed protesters to current their findings of truth, and the board then carried out a listening to the place they acted “much like a judge in a trial”.
“I believe the hearings have served the purpose for which they were designed, which was to provide due process to any challenger to a ballot; to make a decision based on material and substantial evidence; and to create a record against which a decision can be verified. Yesterday, all parties had the opportunity to present their case fairly and fully to the electoral committee,” she mentioned.
Both the Jonczak and Yokeley challenges have been upheld and can now go to the state Elections Committee for additional consideration.
