Wayne County Board of Elections dismisses protest without cause
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 20, 2015 1:46 PM
A preliminary hearing held Thursday afternoon regarding an election protest filed by citizen Tom Drew saw the election protest dismissed without cause by the Wayne County Board of Elections within five minutes of opening the meeting for the hearing.
All three board members -- Doug Wiggins, Jimmy Hull and Bridgette Cowan -- voted unanimously in favor of finding the protest form invalid.
"This election protest form has been filled out with a lot of information, however, I find that there is nothing of protest of an election on this form," Wiggins, the board chairman, said. "In fact, it is the exact same information that has been provided in previous attempts at an election protest."
Wiggins said the board members had all had a chance to review the document Drew filed before the hearing Thursday afternoon.
Wiggins made the motion to dismiss the form without cause three minutes into the meeting, and in the same motion he also instructed the board of elections office staff to not accept any election protest form from Drew in the future if it contained the same identical information on it as the one Drew has continuously filed over the years. Hull provided the second to the motion, which was approved unanimously.
Wiggins said it had been "clogging up the system year after year."
According to North Carolina General Statute 163-182.9(2), an election protest must clearly state if it is contesting the manner in which votes are counted and results tabulated or "some other irregularity," the statute reads.
North Carolina General Statute 163-182.10 a(1), the county board of elections must meet as soon as it can after the election protest is filed to determine whether or not the protest complies with the requirements for an election protest to be valid, and the board must determine "whether it (the election protest form) establishes probable cause to believe that a violation of election law or irregularity or misconduct has occurred," the statute reads.
The statute goes on to say that if the board determines one or both of the requirements for a protest to be considered valid are not met, it may dismiss the protest without cause as the Wayne County Board of Elections did Thursday afternoon.
Following the motion to dismiss the election protest form without cause -- while the board was attempting to adjourn the four and a half minute meeting -- Drew began to question why he was not allowed to speak or provide comment during the preliminary hearing.
"This will be appealed to Wake Superior Court," Drew said to the board members after the meeting was closed.
Drew did not express his wish to speak until after the board had already unanimously voted to dismiss the election protest form without cause and was attempting to adjourn the meeting.