Two Elections Officials Resign In Gaston County

Associated Press    December 16, 2004
GASTONIA, N.C. Gaston County's elections director and the chairman of its elections board resigned after investigations revealed mishandling of vote tallies in the Nov. 2 general election.

Elections director Sandra Page, who has held her post for 15 years, resigned Wednesday following a six-hour, closed-door meeting of the board. Also resigning was Tony Branch, who heads the board.

Page and Branch left the county's elections office as board member Richard Jordan announced their departures.

The moves came in the midst of an investigation by the State Board of Elections of Page's performance collecting and counting votes in last month's election.

More than 13,000 votes were omitted from the county's unofficial election results on election night, but they were later d. However, dozens of ballots cast at curbside by voters who could not walk into a precinct may not have been counted, officials said.

The counsel for the state board, Don Wright, questioned Page for two days about the problems, including a failure by poll workers to check the number of ballots cast against the number of people recorded as voting. Page walked out of a Nov. 23 interview with Wright; she had been on sick leave ever since.

Jordan said Page lost voters' confidence, while Branch resigned because the board failed to properly supervise Page.

Page will not return to work but will remain on the county's payroll until her vacation days run out Feb. 15, Jordan said. She will retire with a state pension.

The board granted the favorable terms because "for 14 years she did an outstanding job," Jordan said

Branch's resignation was effective immediately.

Jordan said he will not resign.

"We have made a few errors and we have been guilty of ignorance, but we are cognizant of what those issues are now," Jordan said. "I want to see these issues resolved and I'm fearful that if you bring a whole new bunch in here they might repeat those mistakes. ...

"We've lost a lot of years of experience and talent today and it's just very sad," Jordan added. "Through the investigation and its findings, we came to the conclusion that this was the best option."

According to Gaston County budget director Phil Ponder, Page overspent her $700,000 budget by at least $100,000 without approval from county commissioners.

The bulk of the money was for temporary staff to help process voter registrations and prepare for the election. The other outstanding bills were to pay for technical support staff for the voting machines, Ponder said.

As Page left the building through a side door, she said she needs more time to recover from sinusitis and would release a prepared statement later this week.

"I've been ill and I'm just now getting better," Page said as she got into her car. "This has all just happened and I will have a statement."

Wright said replacing Page will be the best step.

"It was obvious that Ms. Page had a lot of credibility problems in regards to last month's election. This was best for the (Gaston) board, Ms. Page and the people of Gaston County," he said.