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The Bladen County Board of Elections met Tuesday afternoon in an emergency meeting to review 173 provisional ballots.
Board Chairman, Bobby Ludlum, told those present the NC State Board of Elections has taken over jurisdiction of the protest filed by McCrae Dowless and the local board has been informed not to speak publicly on the matter.
The board then began the process of reviewing provisional ballots cast during the election.
Deputy Board of Elections Director, Gina Ward, told the board that 10 provisional ballots were approved by the NC State Board of Elections after verifying them with the NC Department of Motor Vehicles.
“DMV has completed the data search and these are the ones that DMV said are valid,” said Ward.
Ward also said there is a court order filled by the NAACP that some people went to register to vote at DMV and when they attempted to cast their ballots their information could not be located. Ward said that search was performed by DMV and the State Board of Elections.
Other stacks of ballots were reviewed and Ward said the local board had gotten an email from the state board regarding ballots where the voter was removed due to maintenance. Ward said the state is saying for those provisionals to be counted.
There were also ballots with voters who were registered in another county. Some of the voters appeared to have moved and not properly reregistered.
Other voters were unregistered or their address and other information could not be verified. Ward said letters were sent to try to complete their registration but the voter never returned the letter to complete the registration.
Bobby Ludlum asked the board if they should separate the ballots that are cast by voters who crossed county lines from other counties to vote in Bladen County and research to see if they also voted in the county they were registered in. The board opted to not investigate, stating that it is not the Board’s responsibility to conduct an investigation.
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