03/28/2024
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The Bladen County Board of Elections met on Monday for what was supposed to be the consideration of provisional ballots and final mail absentee ballots.

Bladen County Board of Elections Chairman Bobby Ludlum said, “Everything has been preempted by the state board.”

The board next considered the minutes of the previous meeting. Board Secretary Al Daniels asked if minutes were sent out ahead of the scheduled meeting.

Bladen County Board of Elections Director Cynthia Shaw answered, “Everything in the packet was sent to all three members.”

While waiting for the board members to review the minutes, Ludlum introduced the members of the board to the audience.

When the board was asked for a motion to approve the minutes, Daniels said, “I second with the caveat to go back and review details which I have not done.”

Shaw said that after the agenda for today’s meeting and the agenda packets were already sent Board of Elections staff received an email Brian Neesby regarding approval of ballots.

She said all indications from Neesby are that all meetings to address provisional ballots must be held on or after Wednesday (Nov. 16). Shaw said that the state is still reviewing provisional and verifying information.

Shaw said that according to the email, the local board of elections cannot meet to discuss provisional ballots or mail absentees before Wednesday unless the State Board of Elections has issued special permission.

“We have gotten 170 provisional ballots that have to go into the queue,” said Shaw. 

Members of the military have until Thursday afternoon to submit their absentee ballots.

Daniels asked about the deadline for receiving ballots turned in by hand. Shaw answered that ballots delivered in person must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Election Day.

After further discussion, the board agreed to meet at 1 p.m. Thursday. Board of Elections member Brian Hehl said he will be unable to attend.

Ludlum asked if there were any individuals or delegations wishing to address the board.

Hehl said he wanted to go back to the agenda item regarding absentee ballot irregularities that are being investigated.

There was discussion regarding several organizations wishing to review the ballots in question.

Hehl said the board probably needs to make a decision on whether or not to allow those groups to review the ballots.

Ludlum said that any outside agency, outside of the local Board of Elections, that wishes to review the ballots, the board must redact certain information to protect the privacy of the voter.

Ludlum said, “We have several people here today who want to review the ballots in question.”

Ken Register Jr. presented a request to the Board of Elections asking that the board perform a hand-to-eye recount fo the County Commissioner District 3 race “due to several issues.”

Register said he was present and witnessed the memory issue with the memory stick that ocurred at the One Stop site located at the Bladen County Public Library.

Shaw explained to those in attendance that Register was speaking about a thumb drive that was installed in one of the voting machines that got saturated with data.

Shaw then explained that after every election a statistician from UNC Chapel Hill will randomly select two precincts in every county for a hand-to-eye recount.

Shaw said the hand-to-eye recount is scheduled for tomorrow for the Colly and Abbotsburg Precincts for Presidential race only.

Shaw explained there will be two democrats and two republicans present and one team will call the numbers and another team will tally them.

Register reiterated his request for a hand -to-eye recount in the County Commissioner District 3 race.

After further discussion regarding the thumb drive, Shaw explained that when it was learned there was an issue with the machine, a new thumb drive was quickly installed. Shaw said that the Board secured those ballots from that One Stop site in a locked room and then contacted the NC State Board of Elections for advice and followed the instructions the State Board of Elections gave them.

Shaw said that after the One Stop polls closed, all of the early ballots were run and consolidated all of that onto one thumb drive. The totals were compared to the tape from the machine and once confirmed, all three board members signed off on that.

Shaw said all of the machines are programmed with a thumb drive. She said they do not close the polls until the final Saturday.

She explained that with the amount of voting taking place, the voting machine generated a log and would send it at varying intervals to the thumb drive. Eventually, the logs that were generated filled the memory of the thumb drive.

Hehl said they were not completely shutting down the voting machine, but instead were just “putting it to sleep.”

When it was realized what was happening, Board of Elections staff told everyone to power down the voting machines.

“Instead of taking two thumb drives, the State wanted one,” said Hehl.

Register pointed out that with so many issues, he felt a hand-to-eye recount was in order for the county commissioner race.

Again the board reiterated that the State is asking for the President only to be performed in the hand-to-eye recount.

Ludlum asked the board for a decision on Register’s request.

Hehl said not until the hand-to-eye recount is completed Tuesday.

Bladen County Commissioner candidate Michael Cogdell asked about the flash card for the voting machine in question at the library.

Shaw said the flash card stays with the machine. It was explained that when the poll workers come in each day, they make sure the numbers on the machine match those tallies from the night before.

Cogdell questioned the wifi connection and Shaw explained that the wifi has nothing to do with the voting machines.

Bladen County Commissioner Charles Ray Peterson said, “I want to look at the absentee ballots. I want to know if some of those complaints have been sent to the State Board of Elections.”

Shaw said every complaint received has been sent to the State Board of Elections for review.

Daniels complained that he was being left out of communications with the board.

Ludlum said, “You would have had the same information we have had you read your emails.”

Daniels replied that he did not see the two complaints that were received at the prior meeting.

Hehl read to Daniels from the minutes regarding the information.

It was learned that the State Board of Elections was present Monday morning investigating the complaints that have been submitted.

Hehl said the board was not going to deal with one complaint submitted because there were no names submitted with the complaint.

A motion was made to redact absentee ballots for privacy and only show the information of what was voted.

Shaw informed the board that a statement was brought to the Bladen County Board of Elections  by Christopher Williams on Monday morning pertaining to the ATV labels used to look people up in the poll book.

Shaw said on Election Day, the Board of Elections does not use laptops to look voters up. Instead, they use three ring binders. Shaw said that the poll worker will look up the voter, make sure their information is correct, and after making sure everything is correct the voter signs the sheet and is given their ballot.

What happened at Central, said Shaw, is the wrong poll book was run for Central precinct.

“When people came in to vote, the people got to vote. When he noticed it was incorrect, he said he checked his son’s label,” said Shaw.

She said when the error was discovered, the Board of Elections staff ran a new poll book and it was transported to the precinct by Bobby Kinlaw.

The poll workers transferred the correct ATV labels to the forms.

Register said, “This is a fine example of why we need to perform a hand-to-eye recount. These mistakes shouldn’t have been made and forgiven.”

Ludlum said, “It was corrected.”

Register asked Ludlum if he were a candidate, would he not want a hand-to-eye recount performed considering the information at hand.

“I can’t answer that,” said Ludlum.

“Cynthia, when this happened were any of the board members notified?” asked Daniels.

It was learned that Ludlum was notified and Hehl said he was aware of it.

“What I do not appreciate is when two members of the board are notified of things. The other two are Republican and I am the only Democrat,” said Daniels.

Ludlum asked, “Do I have a motion to do a hand to eye recount on county commissioners races?”

The motion died due to a lack of a second.

Register said, “I want to go on the record saying the reason (the board) will not allow a recount is an admission of wrong doing.”

He added, “I will file a protest after the vote canvass on the 18th.”

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