District 5
race on hold

• Board of Elections puts race on ice until complaints are cleared up

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

The race for District 5 county commissioner might not be over yet.

The race which left incumbent Lynwood Norris with a narrow victory over challenger Barry Worley last week will not be certified until complaints about irregularities have been cleared up, according to Carla Strickland of the Columbus County Board of Elections.

Early voting was the key in that race, as absentee and early ballots pushed Norris past Worley to an 889-722 victory.

Tuesday’s canvass of ballots and provisional vote count left no change in the District 5 contest or any other races locally, Strickland said. A total of 3,503 registered voters live in District 5, which includes Tabor City. According to the final vote count, 1,547 people voted in the race, or 41 percent of the registered voters in the district.
“That’s historic,” Strickland said. “We rarely have more than 16 to 18 percent for a primary.”

Questions about improper behavior by campaign workers, misleading material, improper assistance of voters by campaign workers, and sample ballots lacking disclaimers are among the complaints being examined by the elections board.

In an official complaint filed Monday, Doris Strickland, a registered voter in South Williams Township, described improper actions by at least eight campaign workers. Strickland, who is no relation to the elections director, reported that the misconduct occurred over several days during the early voting period.

In an affidavit to the elections board, Strickland claims that chief precinct judge Kathy Wooster and elections workers Mary Watts, Faye Grainger, Debra Hemingway and others had fans printed with Worley’s name in the voting area.

Strickland also said in the complaint that on April 24 and on Election Day, Wilbur Chestnut, Michael Chestnut, Ethel Tisdale Jordan, and Iris Bellamy gave voters a “white piece of paper that substantially resembled an official ballot.” The sheets did not bear a disclaimer stating they were not official ballots, the complaint alleges. Only one name was written under each position listed on the ballot, according to the complaint.

On April 24, Wilbur Chestnutt also allegedly helped three female voters into voting booths, and later told Worley the women cast ballots for him, according to the complaint.

Wooster also had to ask Ethel Jordan to leave the passenger side of a vehicle in the curbside voting area. Disabled voters or people with mobility problems can vote from the curb using special devices under state law. Curbside voting generally takes place within the 50-foot buffer zone around polls, and electioneering is not allowed in that area.

Jordan allegedly had campaign literature in her hand, but according to Strickland’s complaint told Wooster she was “keeping the passenger company.”

The Tabor City poll was surrounded with controversy during the primary and early voting. Police were called to the polls April 24 after an altercation between a woman identified as Wendy McClure and an unidentified man.

On May 6, Alfred Larenza Jackson of Whiteville said in a handwritten statement to the Board of Elections that he witnessed campaign workers handing voters slips of paper and cash on their way into polling place. Jackson also alleged he saw a worker for Register of Deeds candidate Kandance Whitehead enter the polls who “told personnel she was helping them.”

Jackson has not returned telephone calls to The News Reporter and has not followed up on his complaint with the Board of Elections.

Strickland said she has contacted County Attorney Steve Fowler to discuss the complaint, but Fowler had not contacted the elections board at presstime. Strickland said she is setting up a preliminary consultation with Fowler before going any further with the investigation.