The Bladen County Board of Elections will meet this evening at 5 p.m. to discuss the Primary Election’s provisional and absentee ballots. All absentee ballots are to be postmarked no later than March 3, 2020, to be counted in the primary election.
Another issue the board of elections has faced is Republican Ken Register Jr., a candidate for County Commissioner for District 3, requested a recount. Candidate Danny L. Ellis II received 443 according to the official reports after the election on March 3.
In the District 3 race, Republican Candidate Register trailed behind Ellis by a total of 13 votes. Register’s total votes are 430 votes. Register said he requested a recount in his contest before all the absentee ballots were reported, but was denied a recount by the local board of elections. Register said he was told by the director of the board a recount would not be allowed because the difference in the contest votes had to be 1% or less. The percentage difference in the questioned contest is 1.7% difference, according to Register.
“He turned me down,” Register reported.
Register stated he requested the director of the local board of elections to send the recount request to the State Board of Elections for a final decision. Register said he has not heard back from the elections office about the request.
Democrat James G. ‘Jimmie’ Smith won the Democratic ticket for District 3 with 900 votes over newcomer to politics Democrat Steve Peterson with 524 votes.
The three candidates who will be on the ballot in November for the Bladen County Board of Commissioners at large seats are on the democratic ticket are G. Michael Cogdell, Mark Gillespie, and Greg Taylor.
For District 2, Rodney Hester won the Republican ticket with 810 votes over Incumbent Daniel Dowless with 693 votes.
BladenOnline.com also reached out to the Bladen County Elections office and was unable to reach anyone by the time of publication. The Bladen County Board of Elections will meet again for the canvas at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2020.
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