Election open to lost voters
December 01,2004
BARRY SMITH  Jacksonville Daily News
RALEIGH - Carteret County residents whose votes were lost by a computer - along with others who did not vote on Nov. 2 - will get another opportunity to cast ballots.

The State Board of Elections on Tuesday decided to hold a special election in the county on Jan. 11 for the tight state Commissioner of Agriculture race. Votes from the special election would be added to those who voted on Nov. 2 and others whose early voting ballots were recorded by the UniLect voting equipment before the system failed and lost more than 4,000 votes.

The action came after Democrats on the board were unable to muster enough votes to hold a new, statewide election in the race.

Board Chairman Larry Leake of Asheville along with Democratic members Genevieve Sims of Raleigh and Robert Cordle of Charlotte voted to call for a new election, as requested by sitting Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Britt Cobb. Cobb trails Republican Steve Troxler by a little more than 2,000 votes.

However, the Republican board members - Lorraine Shinn of Greenville and Charles Winfree of Greensboro - wouldn't go along.

State law requires that four of the five members must approve a new election before one can be held.

The Democratic board members said that a new election was the only option they had according to the law.

"I don't think anybody up here wants to have a new election," Cordle said. "But our legislature says that's the remedy."

John Wallace, an attorney representing Cobb, had asked the board to call for another statewide vote.

"Eligible voters in fact cast ballots but their votes have not been counted," Wallace said. "The remedy is a new election."

But Marshall Hurley, an attorney representing Troxler, said a new election was not needed. Instead, he argued that the 4,438 voters whose ballots were lost by the electronic voting equipment in Carteret County should be given the opportunity to vote again.

He compared their plight to voters who had received a spoiled ballot.

"We know who got a spoiled ballot," Hurley said. "They should be given an opportunity to cast another vote."

Leake disagreed with Hurley's proposal.

"I think you've been quite creative," Leake said, asking Hurley if he wasn't also calling for a new election.

Winfree said a new election would likely result in a low voter turnout.

Gary Bartlett, state elections director, estimated that the turnout would likely be similar to turnouts in runoff primaries, which have ranged between 2.5 percent and 19 percent since 1990.

State law calls for new elections to be held in the entire jurisdiction of the original election.

"It's a remedial process," Hurley said. "We don't have to throw out 3 million votes to save, 4,400."

Winfrey, who opposed the new statewide election, offered instead to have the Carteret County Board of Elections track down the 4,438 voters whose ballots were lost and offer them the opportunity to vote again.

His proposal failed along a party-line 3-2 vote.

The final resolution, calling for the special Carteret County election for those whose votes who were not counted plus others who did not cast ballots on Nov. 2, passed 4-1, with Leake voting against the proposal.

Hurley called the board's solution an "unorthodox remedy" but said it was close to what he and Troxler sought.

He compared it to polls staying open late on Election Day because of problems with voting machines.

"It would be similar to opening the polls for an extra hour because there was some problem with having the votes cast," Hurley said.

After the elections board finished dealing with the commissioner of agriculture race, board members took time to grill Jack Gerbel of UniLect Corp., the company that provided the voting machine that lost the votes in Carteret County.

Gerbel told the board that his company took responsibility for the voting machine snafu.

"We are not blaming in any way anyone in Carteret County," he said.

Leake asked Gerbel if his company could reimburse the Carteret County Board of Elections for the cost of conducting the special election.

"I wish we could," he replied, adding that his company is to small to be able to afford such an undertaking.

But he did promise to have representatives from the company in Carteret County when the special election is held. He said the voting machines would be fixed so that such ballots are not lost in the future.