Contributed by Dr. Larry Hayes, Chair of the Bladen County Democratic Party
October 4, 2021-
As Chairman of the Bladen County Democratic Party, I believe it is important to present the facts in response to Republican Party Chair Schaefer’s false and misleading complaint regarding the appointments of poll officials in Bladen County.
State law requires that three officials (one chief judge and two judges) be appointed for each precinct in August of odd numbered years. The law specifies that no later than one week prior to the meeting for appointment, the two-party chairs are required to submit a list of qualified nominees for those positions, four names for each precinct. To be qualified, a nominee must be a resident of the precinct, registered to vote, able to read and write, and considered of good reputation and moral character. State law requires the Board of Elections to appoint only from those lists (unless there are not enough qualified nominees in total on both lists).
Since Bladen County has 17 precincts, each chairman should have submitted a list of 68 nominees to be considered for the 51 positions to be filled. Elections Director Chris Williams asked us to submit as many names as possible to allow for replacements for nominees that might not be qualified or might become unable to serve due to illness, relocation, etc.
On August 3rd, Chairman Schaeffer submitted a list with only 17 nominees. After a review of the lists by election staff, a majority of the Republican nominees were determined to be unqualified because they are NOT residents of the precinct they were nominated to serve. Mr. Schaeffer was notified that his list was insufficient and was asked to correct his list. He refused to do so.
When the Board met in August to make the required appointments, it was determined that only 7 of the 17 Republican nominees were qualified to fill one of the 51 appointments. State law requires the Local Board of Elections to fill the seats only with qualified nominees from the two lists, and that is what they did.
This is not a new situation. In 2017 the Bladen County Democratic Party Chair submitted a full list of qualified nominees for the 51 positions. The Bladen County Republican Chair submitted none. In 2019, I submitted a full list of qualified nominees for the 51 positions. Mr. Schaeffer submitted none. Before the board met to make appointments, a staff member from the State Board of Elections explained to Mr. Schaeffer that all 51 positions might be filled with Democrats because he refused to submit any nominations.
On August 10th of this year I submitted a list of 84 qualified nominees for the 51 positions. Mr. Schaeffer submitted 17 names, only 7 of which were qualified, even after being given a second chance to revise his list.
Because of the repeated failure of the Bladen County Republican Party to make qualified nominations, the Bladen County Democrat Party decided to include not only qualified Democrats on our list of nominations this year, but also qualified Republican and Unaffiliated poll workers who are currently serving as election officials in our county. We believed it would be unfair for good people to be excluded from consideration for appointment because of the failure of a party chair to follow the law.
We determined that we would nominate honest, dependable, and experienced poll officials with a goal of having a balance of political affiliations in each precinct as much as possible. I believe the appointments made by the Bladen County Board of Elections did that.
In addition, Bladen County Board of Elections Chair Louella Thompson asked local board attorney Allen Johnson to consult with attorneys from the State Board of Elections office to make certain each of the 51 appointments were properly made and how to make any needed corrections. Four changes were recommended, but only one was required. The three recommended changes were made at the September meeting. The final change is required because an unqualified Republican was appointed temporarily to give Mr. Schaeffer yet another opportunity to find a qualified nominee. Mr. Johnson assured the board that, with the exception of the temporary appointment, the other 50 appoints were legally and properly made. Mr. Schaeffer was in attendance and surely heard Mr. Johnson’s statement.
Instead of accepting responsibility for his own failures in his responsibilities as Republican Party Chair, Mr. Schaeffer has decided to deflect blame to the local Board of Elections and file a baseless complaint against them, specifically targeting the Democratic members of the board for following the law and refusing to cave into his constant complaints and his efforts to harass and bully them into submitting to his partisan and unlawful demands. His efforts are not working, and his constant and vocal frustration suggests it is time for him to try something new and different. I would suggest respect, honesty, and following the rules.
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