End it now

Time to declare a winner for agriculture commissioner

Opinion   Charlotte Observer   28 December 2004

The members of the state Board of Elections have another chance Wednesday to get it right in Carteret County. This time, the board should follow common sense and declare a winner in the Nov. 2 race for state agriculture commissioner.

Last month, the state elections board came up with a cockeyed scheme to hold a new election for agriculture commissioner in Carteret County. They decided that 4,438 voters whose votes were lost by malfunctioning electronic voting machines would be allowed to cast ballots again in that race on Jan. 11 along with the rest of the voters in that county.

That means people in Carteret County who did not even vote Nov. 2 would get a second chance to choose an agriculture commissioner. Meanwhile, voters in North Carolina's other 99 counties are out of luck. That's nutty. And illegal. Superior Court Judge Henry Hight wasted no time tossing the plan out.

Wednesday, the state elections is expected to consider other ways to proceed.

The race for commissioner of agriculture is the only one close enough for the lost votes to make a difference. The best course would be to invite the 4,438 voters the local elections board has their names to cast replacement ballots. Yet state law does not provide specifically for that remedy.

The law should be changed. But until that happens, the elections board has two choices: it could order a new statewide election for ag commissioner or it could simply certify the leading candidate as the winner, and leave it at that.

Both are imperfect solutions. But given the facts and the circumstances, certifying the election makes far more sense.

A new statewide election would cost taxpayers an estimated $3 million. It would disenfranchise the 3.5 million people who voted Nov. 2. If history is any guide, a new election would draw a tiny fraction of those who turned out on Nov. 2. That turns democracy on its ear.

If the intent is to determine whom the voters of Carteret County wanted as agriculture commissioner, a statewide election is the least accurate option.

A wiser choice would be to declare the agriculture commissioner election over. Republican Steve Troxler leads Democrat incumbent Britt Cobb by only 2,287 votes. Technically, the lost votes could affect the outcome. Yet realistically, it isn't likely.

A majority of the 4,438 voters gypped by the machines are Republican. Mr. Troxler was winning about 60 percent of the properly recorded votes in Carteret County. That strongly suggests he would win the vast majority of the 4,438 missing votes.

Clearly, a costly new statewide election that shreds millions of legitimate votes in order to regain a few thousand serves no one. Just as clearly, certifying Mr. Troxler the winner is a better option.

In the meantime, prevention is the only real solution to election failures such as the one in Carteret. The legislative committee studying electronic voting should heed the difficulty of the election board's decision. It shows the great urgency for reforms in training and technology to be decided, implemented and funded.