District 4 ballot will not change
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 14, 2015 1:46 PM
Following Tuesday morning's vote recount held by the Wayne County Board of Elections for the District 4 seat on the Goldsboro City Council, there is no change in the outcome of the primary election.
After recounting the votes by tabulator, Bevan Foster still had 154 votes, incumbent Charles Williams 94 votes and Tondalayo Clark 92 votes, which were the same numbers reported following the Oct. 6 primary.
All one-stop voting ballots and absentee ballots were part of the recount.
Vote totals were reviewed and approved by the board, with chairman Doug Wiggins providing his vote of approval via a conference call.
The vote to approve the results of the recount was unanimous, with member Bridgette Cowan and secretary Jimmy Hull also voting in favor of approving the results of the recount.
One ballot was not able to be read by the tabulator, but was not a ballot cast in the District 4 election that could be counted, Hull said. The ballot was for the Goldsboro mayoral primary, and would not have affected the outcome of the recount.
Documents approving the District 4 recount and abstract of the canvass will be mailed to Wiggins so he can sign the document.
Prior to the District 4 recount, there were three provisional ballots and one absentee ballot to be counted for the election. All four ballots were dismissed and not counted in the election, as unanimously approved by the board.
The absentee ballot was not counted because there was no witness signature.
One provisional ballot was filed by a voter who registered after the deadline for the primary election, rendering the ballot invalid, but that voter will be able to vote in the general election.
The second provisional ballot was cast by a voter who opted to do same-day registration while voting, but did not provide a Help America Vote Act document to confirm their address. That voter had until 5 p.m. Monday to provide the documentation, but failed to do so. The requirement is a federal law that requires voters to show current and valid photo identification, or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government paycheck or other government document that show the name and address of the voter to be eligible to vote.
The third provisional ballot was cast by a voter who is registered in Precinct 28, but cast a ballot in Precinct 12. Therefore, the ballot was ineligible to be counted because there was no ballot for anyone in Precinct 28 in the Goldsboro primary election.
There were no additional absentee ballots received by the Board of Elections prior to Tuesday morning's primary election canvass.
Absentee ballots are allowed in the Nov. 3 general election. Requests for an absentee ballot must be made in writing and received by the Board of Elections office by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Absentee ballot voting by mail began on Oct. 4 and will end at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2.
The Board of Elections will meet at 9 a.m. on Oct. 13, Oct. 20, Oct. 27 and at 5 p.m. Nov. 2 for the purpose of approving absentee ballot applications.