RALEIGH, N.C. — A Western North Carolina town must have a new election after a poll worker told voters on Election Day that a candidate in the contest had died, which may have skewed results.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously Monday to conduct a new election for the Town of Dobson Board of Commissioners in Surry County, responding to an election protest and appeal.
A candidate, Sharon Gates-Hodges, died before the elections but after early voting had begun, meaning her name appeared on ballots. On Election Day, a poll worker told voters that a candidate had died — at times appearing to indicate another candidate and not Gates-Hodges. The worker also told voters they had to pick two candidates, which may have made people feel obligated to vote for two people when they could have opted for just one.
Poll workers, under state law, are required to administer their duties “without fear or favor” and will not “in any manner request or seek to persuade or induce any voter to vote for or against a particular candidate or proposition.”
Current commissioners J. Wayne Atkins and Walter White won the nonpartisan race for two open commissioner seats, with 184 votes for Atkins, 167 for White, 159 for John Jonczak and 106 for Gates-Hodges. Jonczak lost by just eight votes
At the precinct where the issue occurred, Atkins got 40 votes, White got 32, Jonczak got 54 and Gates-Hodges got 30.
On Nov. 29, voter James Yokeley filed a protest stating that when he was voting a poll worker told a couple ahead of him in line that “this person has died, I am told.” That same poll worker then told him, “you may have heard me tell the people before you that this person has passed away” and pointed to Jonczak’s name, saying the commissioner race was one where one votes for two candidates, Yokeley wrote.
Jonczak also filed a protest that day. He included messages between him and a voter, in which the voter described being told by a poll worker that Gates-Hodges had died and that in the commissioner race “you vote for two.” The voter also said that she thought other voters may have felt they were obligated to vote for two people.
“I just didn’t like the ‘smell’ of it … I am praying that you will know what the right thing to do in this situation,” the voter wrote to Jonczak.
The Surry County Board of Elections decided that as the poll worker is a person with some authority in elections, they could’ve influenced the decision of voters and swayed results in a very narrow election. The board asked the state board to follow up.
White and Atkins filed an appeal requesting that the original election results stand, citing concerns with hearings being conducted too hastily and without having the poll worker testify.
White wrote that “no matter the outcome of the election, this has been an unfortunate and unusual incident involving the untimely death of a candidate and the accusations of poor judgment by a poll worker combined with the confusion hearing in an election protest.”
The new election will be March 7, with early in-person voting on Feb. 16, and with all original candidates on the ballot except for Gates-Hodges.
“Ordering a new election is something this board does not take lightly,” said Damon Circosta, chair of the State Board of Elections. “It is unfortunate what has happened. And it is certainly through no malice or ill will of anybody in the county. But I think it goes to show that when issues arise there’s procedures we have in which to remedy them, and that’s where we are now. “
The State Board also voted to set hearings for next year to discuss the possible removal of two Surry County Board of Elections members — Jerry Forestieri and Timothy DeHaan — after they filed a letter stating that they would not certify the county’s election results, despite the elections in the county being “conducted in full compliance with applicable laws,” as DeHaan and Forestieri described it.
Forestieri and DeHaan wrote that all elections conducted in the state “have a very uncertain validity,” following court rulings related to voting rules and rights. DeHaan eventually agreed to sign the form certifying the election results, but Forestieri did not.
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