Campaign ’22: Sample Ballot Monkey Business in Moore County?

Taking credit for someone else’s work in school is a critical misstep that can. be hazardous to your path to graduation.  It’s frowned upon in business, and can lead to lawsuits.  It’s decidedly wrong — and against the law — in political campaigning.

Election law says that all political media has to be clearly marked with the name of the entity that paid for said media.  The law applies to TV, radio, newspaper ads, mailings, and billboards, among other things. In Moore County, there are marked sample ballots circulating at early voting stations which bear the words “Paid for by Moore Republican Party.”

The problem?  County party officials say the marked ballots were neither paid for nor approved by the county GOP.  Candidates and other political figures have been seen handing these ballots out. Local party officials tell us they have warned these individuals to remove the ballots from the polling places and stop handing them out.

Concerns by local party officials range from (1) the false impression the local party is meddling in primaries, and (2) the sheer dishonesty of claiming someone paid for something that they didn’t pay for.

Legal eagles familiar with election law tell us distributing campaign media or materials with a false sponsor identified can be a criminal misdemeanor.

Here is an image of the sketchy ballot being passed out in Moore County (Note the ‘paid for’ tag at the bottom of the ballot’ :