The Forsyth County Board of Elections was among the many election boards
across the state to dismiss protests involving voter fraud, which the campaign of
Gov. Pat McCrory claims is widespread in a close ilection.
[ - ; V" gsr" gp ? ;:vT Photo# by Todd Luck
Board of Elections members Fleming El-Amin, Stuart Russell (standing) and
Ken Raymond compare the signature on a voter's ballot to the one on their reg
istration during a canvass meeting held on Monday, Nov. 21
Forsyth board continues canvass amid recount request
BY TODD LUCK |
The Forsyth County Board of Elections (BOE) dis
missed election protests and continued its canvass into this
week as Gov. Pat McCrory has requested a statewide
recount in hi? re-election contest.
Attorney General Roy Cooper leads McCrory by more
than 9,800 votes as of press time. It's a small enough mar
gin to qualify for a recount, which McCrory requested last
week. The recount will be done after the state completes
its canvass. Forsyth, along with other counties, extended
their canvasses to yesterday. The state must wait for all
counties to finish their individual canvasses before doing
its own.
"Staff spent a lot of time on its research ... it's not
something that can be done quickly," said Forsyth BOE
member Stuart Russell about the work to verify the rough
ly 1,800 provisional ballots cast in Forsyth.
The McCrory campaign and the N.C. GOP have been
alleging widespread voter fraud. Protests were filed in 52
out of 100 counties in the state, alleging dead people,
felons and those who had already voted cast ballots.
The State Board of Elections (BOE) is appointed by
the governor and, in turn, appoints members of county
election boards. All BOEs in the state have majorities that
reflect the governor's political party, meaning they're cur
rently Republican controlled. Despite that, most have been
unreceptive to the protests.
Forsyth BOE held a hearing on Tues, Nov. 21, for a
protest filed by Forsyth GOP Vice Chair Linda Petrou,
claiming two felons voted, which was dismissed when no
one showed up for the hearing. Felons are prohibited from
voting, but are allowed to register and vote if they com
pleted all the terms of their sentence.
Four other protests never made it past a preliminary
hearing. Two were protests also filed by Petrou. One
claimed two ballots were cast for dead people. The other
claimed that using printed tapes of results instead of the
memory cards from five precincts on election night was
improper. Though the memory cards should've been
turned in on election night, they were later retrieved and
staff confirmed they matched the information on the tapes.
There was also a protest by Michael Brandon Jones claim
ing one voter returned an absentee ballot late.
Forsyth BOE continued its canvass on Tuesday, Nov.
21 by counting some absentee and provisional ballots.
Lawyers associated with both gubernatorial campaigns
were present to observe. During the meeting, there were
seven instances of double votes, where it was believed
someone voted using someone else's identity. In each
case, the board accepted the ballot it believed was cast by
the actual voter and discounted the other one.
The board also announced last week that write-in may
oral candidate Jo Anne Allen got 3,150 votes. Mayor Allen
Joines won that contest with 86,948 votes. Green Party
Presidential Candidate Jill Stein received 444 votes in the
county.
A hand recount done at two randomly chosen precincts
found no discrepancies between the tabulated results and
the marked ballots. There were 175,712 ballots cast in
Forsyth County, which had a 68.59 percent voter turnout.
On Monday, the N.C. State BOE instructed county
boards to dismiss any remaining voter eligibility protests
unless they could affect the outcome of a race and to count
votes dismissed because of jprotests after ruling the com
plaints had been filed too late. McCrory is also offering a
deal for a recount in Durham County in place of a
statewide recount, but the State BOE hadn't issued a deci
sion on that as of press time. If Cooper's lead surpasses
10,000 votes, the race will no longer qualify for a recount.
'Peace Toys for War Toys'
set For Dec. 17
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE 1
The 24th annual citywide "Peace Toys for War Toys"
will be held Saturday, Dec. 17 from 1 to 4 prn. at the
Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Education Building.
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and registration ends at
12:30 p.m. Admission is non-perishable foods to stock the
pantry at AIDS Care Service. Items will be collected by
the Winston-Salem Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma
Theta Sorority Inc.
Youth 3 -14 years old must be accompanied by a par
ent. Youth may exchange violent toys and video games for
peace toys such as basketballs, footballs, puzzles and
video computer games.
Youth will also have an opportunity to win bicycles
and other special prizes that promote fitness, education
and peace.
Unwrapped toy donations may be given to Ben Piggott
or staff at Carl H. Russell Sr. Community Center at 3521
Carver School Road.
High school students only can register for a chance to
win a computer donated by Venable Tax Services.
Contact Ben Piggott at 336-727-2580 or Lee Shapiro
at the Fairgrounds Annex at 336-734-1582 for more inifor
mation.
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