Monkey Business Report: State elections Board + people casting multiple ballots

 

 

If you’re feeling a little queasy about the integrity of the November vote,  take a gander at THIS from 2019:

 

From: Price, Kelli [mailto:pricek@co.pasquotank.nc.us]
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2019 1:30 PM
To:incident.seims@ncsbe.gov‘; ‘Blackman, Allison’
Cc: ‘Tate, Emma’
Subject: RE: [External] Re: [#NCSBE-49085] [External] Double Voting

 

   We had 9. Please advise about the voter history.

  

Kelli L. Price, CNCEA

Director of Elections

Pasquotank County Board of Elections

pricek@co.pasquotank.nc.us

 

From:incident.seims@ncsbe.gov [mailto:incident.seims@ncsbe.gov]
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2019 12:28 PM
To: Kelli Price
Subject: [External] Re: [#NCSBE-49085] [External] Double Voting

 

Hi Kelli,

 

Please scan the OS Application and the ED ATV and email those to us. We will send to investigations.

 

In terms of the vote itself, there’s nothing we can do at this point.  If on election day it’s realized that someone marked ABS was allowed to vote, the CJ can challenge the OS ballot at the closing of polls and then you would have a hearing at canvass and depending on the outcome, the OS ballot could be retrieved and votes removed.  However after election day, there’s no way to challenge that OS ballot (and of course no way to pull an election day ballot that are not traceable).

 

For this reason, your CJ should be trained to flip through completed ATVs throughout the day to see if there are any issues.  Also, those ABS labels could be marked with a highlighter before the polls open as an additional reminder that it’s an abs voter (which you likely already do and sometimes mistakes just happen).

 

In terms of voter history conflict, I’m going to send this over to the voter services team who can help with that once I get the associated documents for investigations.

 

Thank you,

 

Allison

 

Date: 9/19/2019 12:21:00 PM
Subject: [External] Double Voting
From: pricek@co.pasquotank.nc.us
To: helprequest.sboe@ncsbe.gov
Cc: tatee@co.pasquotank.nc.us

 

CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to report.spam@nc.gov

 

Need the process I need to follow for  someone who voted at one-stop and on election day (poll worker didn’t notice and issued them a regular ballot on election day).

 

Kelli L. Price, CNCEA

Director of Elections

Pasquotank County Board of Elections

 

Well, the indomitable Betsy Meads — former Pasquotank. County elections board member and world-class troublemaker — is throwing some more fuel on the fire in Raleigh:

SECOND REQUEST

 

In the 2019 Special Election for Walter Jones Congressional Seat there were NINE (9) VOTERS IN  PASQUOTANK COUNTY who voted twice. See the guidance given by the State Board of Elections (SBE) in the email trail referenced at the end of this email. In this Congressional 3rd District Race there were a total of 17 Duplicate Voters including voters in Dare and Pamlico counties.   In the 5thDistrict Congressional Race there was 1 duplicate voter.

In Pasquotank,  the emails indicate that this guidance was based on NCGS 163-232 (C) After receipt of the list of absentee voters required by this section the chief judge shall call the name of each person recorded on the list and enter an “A” in the appropriate voting square on the voter’s permanent registration record, or a similar entry on the computer list used at the polls. If such person is already recorded as having voted in that election, the chief judge shall enter a challenge which shall be presented to the county board of elections for resolution by the board of elections prior to certification of results by the board. 

 

Unfortunately this statute does not COVER the very real possibility of a voter having already voted in person (before the elections workers can go through the lists delivered on election day morning) and POLLWORKER IGNORING THE ABSENTEE DESIGNATION THAT IS ALREADY IN THE BOOK 

 

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT IN THE PAST, THE BOARD WITH A  QUORUM COULD REMOVE DUPLICATE BALLOTS VIA THEIR ONE STOP OR ABSENTEE DESIGNATED ID NUMBERS.     I AM REFERRING TO 163-33  POWERS AND DUTIES OF COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTIONS.

§ 163-33. Powers and duties of county boards of elections.  The county boards of elections within their respective jurisdictions shall exercise all powers granted to such boards in this Chapter, and they shall perform all the duties imposed upon them by law, which shall include the following:

 

3)To investigate irregularities, nonperformance of duties, and violations of laws by election officers and other persons, and to report violations to the State Board of Elections. In exercising the powers and duties of this subdivision, the board may act only when a majority of its members are present at any meeting at which such powers or duties are exercised.

 

(13)Notwithstanding the provisions of any other section of this Chapter, to have access to any ballot boxes and their contents, any voting machines and their contents, any registration records, poll books, voter authorization cards or voter lists, any lists of absentee voters, any lists of presidential registrants under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended, and any other voting equipment or similar records, books or lists in any precinct or municipality over whose elections it has jurisdiction or for whose elections it has responsibility.

First, we should train our poll workers to recognize a 2nd vote by a voter in the same election and then how to challenge that vote.  Then WE SHOULD ALLOW OUR LOCAL BOARDS TO CORRECT double VOTING by a voter, UNDER ANY REASON and at any time before canvass, BY REMOVING ONE STOP OR ABSENTEE BALLOTS.   All absentee ballots include a unique identifier for just that reason.

 

PLEASE PROVIDE THE POLICY and processes used by the local board of elections, IN ANY EVENT, THAT A DUPLICATE VOTE IS RECOGNIZED PRIOR TO CANVASS,  HOW WILL A LOCAL BOARD BE TOLD TO HANDLE DURING THE 2020 GENERAL ELECTION?

I attended the regular monthly meeting of the Pasquotank Board of Elections today.  As I have been a poll worker before, I clarified how the absentee lists was handled in the past. In our case, it is given to those workers handing the precinct books to check off those who voted absentee but were not noted as already voted.   At no time in our recollection has the process referred to in 163-232 (c) been implemented, in fact the board and staff were not aware of this statute.  From a poll worker’s standpoint, this process would require the Chief Judge and the poll workers on the poll book to stop everything while the names are being read, resulting in a backlog of voters and  confusion, in my opinion.

 

 

Thank you for your attention to this question.

Betsy Meads

Elizabeth City, NC