By Erin Smith
The election results for all of the town of Dublin races remain uncertified after a protest was filed by Town Commissioner Candidate Richard Sibbet. The preliminary hearing was conducted on Friday morning prior to the Vote Canvass meeting.
The preliminary hearing allowed the Bladen County Board of Elections members to hear evidence regarding the protest and to determine whether or not a protest hearing should be conducted.
According to the protest form submitted to the Board of Elections, Sibbet alleges no absentee ballots should have been mailed out or accepted because the town of Dublin had opted out of One Stop and mail absentee voting in 2015. The protest also requests the Board of Elections to disallow 16 absentee ballots because the voters do not reside in the town limits of Dublin.
Board of Elections President Bobby Ludlum said, “We (the Board of Elections) sent out a letter in May or June to the towns asking if they were going to opt in or out of early voting.”
Dublin Town Commissioner David Kirby was present at the meeting also and said the Dublin town board knew nothing about the letter from the Board of Elections. He further stated the town board also did not know about the letter allegedly submitted by the town clerk which said the town would opt in on One Stop voting this year.
“It was done in July, unbeknownst to us (Dublin Town Board members),” said Kirby.
The letter in question was allegedly sent to the Bladen County Board of Elections office in July and signed by the town clerk. Kirby said when he learned in October that the letter was sent, he began to make inquiries what had to be done to correct situation because the board had not met on the matter.
Sibbet said, “The point is the town did not opt in.”
“We have no way of knowing whether the town board met,” said Ludlum. He emphasized all the Board of Elections staff were doing was acting in good faith on the letter which was submitted in July.
Al Daniels asked why it took the Dublin board so long to contact the Board of Elections staff regarding the issue. Kirby emphasized the fact they were not made aware of the clerk’s letter until October.
“I’m bringing it to your attention the letter was manipulated by the only incumbent and the clerk,” said Sibbet.
Ludlum asked, “Are you saying the incumbent candidate?” Sibbet replied affirmatively.
“She (the town clerk) said she was told to send a letter opting in by the incumbent,” said Kirby.
“There was a deliberate action taken to manipulate the election of Dublin,” said Sibbet.
It was learned the Dublin post office does not have rural route service but instead offers post office boxes to those reside within the town limits. The Bladen County Board of Elections Director Cynthia Shaw said that absentee ballots were sent to the addresses submitted to the staff. She noted that the absentee ballots were returned completed to the office.
Sibbet said he used an app called People Finder to check the addresses of the absentee ballots against the addresses he could locate for the voters. He determined 16 absentee ballots to be questionable and to not be residents of the town of Dublin. He submitted a list of names to the Board of Elections with his protest form.
Sibbet questioned the ballots of Lisa Britt, Sandra F. Dowless, and Brittany Joan Meshaw. Sibbet said all three absentee ballots were from the same address: 6875 Albert Street, Dublin. Sibbet said this location is three doors away from his own residence.
“No one lives in the house. It’s a rental,” said Sibbet.
He said that Meshaw works for incumbent Dublin Town Commissioner Jeff Smith and she resides in Virginia not Dublin. Sibbet said Meshaw does own the residence at 6875 Albert Street, Dublin.
Shaw said everything (related to absentee ballots) goes out in the postal service and is returned through the postal service. She said if the ballot is hand delivered, there is note placed on the ballot of who brought in, when they brought it in, etc.
After hearing from Kirby and Sibbet, the Board of Elections voted to conduct a protest hearing on the absentee ballots but they denied the protest on the letter regarding the town opting in/out of early voting. The board also opted to not certify any of the results of all of the races in Dublin pending the outcome of the protest hearing.
The board now has ten days to hold the protest hearing. A date for the hearing has not yet been announced.
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