Candidate cries foul over sample ballot
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 24, 2016 10:01 AM
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The Broadhurst sample ballot
Back of the Broadhurst sample ballot
Sample ballots checking the names of Democratic candidates, but excluding district court judge candidate Curtis Stackhouse, are being handed out at polling places in Wayne, Lenoir and Greene counties.
The sample ballots are being paid for by Clifton Broadhurst, who has worked this year for the campaign of district court judge Annette Turik, Stackhouse's opponent.
Although the race is non-partisan, Stackhouse identifies himself as a Democrat and Mrs. Turik identifies herself as a Republican.
At polling places in Wayne County, sample ballots indicating party favorites are being handed out by both the Wayne County Democratic Party and the Wayne County Republican Party. Both clearly state who is paying for their publication.
The green Broadhurst ballot carries no such endorsement from either party. It puts checks by the names of all Democrats, from Hillary Clinton on down, except for Stackhouse and school board candidate Raymond Smith Jr. In the district judge race, the check mark is beside Mrs. Turik's name. In the school board race the check mark is beside the name of Ven Faulk, another Republican.
Stackhouse said the Broadhurst ballot is misleading some people into voting for Mrs. Turik, thinking she must be a Democrat.
"I feel like it's misleading voters," Stackhouse said. "People are getting the wrong information."
The woman handing out the Broadhurst sample ballots on Sunday at the Wayne County Board of Elections said only that it was a sample ballot. She wore a Ven Faulk T-shirt. When asked if the ballot was straight Democratic, she said no, that it contained two Republicans.
Mrs. Turik said she is not involved in any way with Broadhurst's ballot.
"I sort of feel like I am being drug into it when it is not my ballot," she said Sunday. "I don't have anything to do with passing it out. I do not have anything to do with the ballot."
She confirmed that Broadhurst had worked for her campaign in the past.
According to filings with the state Board of Elections she paid Broadhurst $4,000 during the first two quarters of the year. On the forms she listed "get out to vote" as what he had been paid to do.
Broadhurst said Mrs. Turik had approached him about helping her.
Broadhurst said he asked the Board of Elections if he was doing anything wrong, and was told that he was not.
"As long as I abide by their rules I don't care what anybody else says," he said.
He confirmed that Mrs. Turik has paid him $4,000.
"She can pay me as much as she wants to as long as she reports it," he said. "I am not going to get myself in trouble or you if you are a candidate."
Broadhurst said no one has anything to with his sample ballot but himself. He said ballot being handed out is the what that he voted.
Broadhurst said he did not have any concerns people might get the wrong idea about the ballot.
"Never had a concern," he said. "They don't ever get the wrong idea especially when I go to you and tell you the situation. You can turn over on the back -- nonpartisan.
"If you ask me a question, 'Why do you have this lady right here and I know she is Republican.' That is the way where I live at, I think she is best for the job. Where I live at, I think he is best for the job. That is the way I see it."
Almost all of the candidates have folks to help them get out the vote, help them get their name out, help them get their materials distributed, Mrs. Turik said.
"That is not that uncommon," she said. "Most candidates do that, and it is disclosed on the report. Clifton has helped numerous candidates in the past. As far as I know it is not anything new."
Nor is it unusual for groups to hand out sample ballots, she said.
"What is being passed out at the polls, there are numerous ballots going out," she said. "Each party has a ballot. Churches have ballots. Other organizations have ballots. There are all kinds of ballots that people circulate so I don't know whose ballot who was on.
"There are people putting things in people's hands as they come to vote. They have a handful of stuff when they get in there. They have all kinds of ballots in their hands, and I don't know where the ballots come from, and I don't know who is on them."
Broadhurst, who said he printed and paid for the ballots, denied telling voters the ballot showed Democrats candidates only.
"No sir," he said. "I have a sample ballot sir, and I can tell you what I tell my people to tell everybody, 'This is a sample ballot we would like for you to go by if you want to. On the back we picked these people because it is a nonpartisan race.'
"If you have watched my ballots in the past, I am going to give you a little history. I have been doing this since 2004. On my front ballot the last time that the sheriff ran I shaded all of the Democrats. When I got to the sheriff's race I marked (Republican) Sheriff (Larry) Pierce because I felt he was best for the job."
Statewide, across the board, Broadhurst said he stays with Democrats.
"But where I live at when it comes to nonpartisan I pick and choose who I want," he said. "That is my ballot that is the way I voted. If you want to go by that, it will help you. No straight Democratic ticket. I never say that. I don't tell my people to say that.
"If I have people working for me who tell people that, I would like to know. I don't have people out there saying that. They are not supposed to say that. Now the other people out there say this is the official Democratic ballot. We don't say nothing about Democrat. We just say this is a sample ballot if you go by this, that's it."
Broadhurst said he has been successful in the past in getting out the vote.
"People do come to me, and I do get out the vote," he said. "I do put out signs. I canvass the area, take you to different places in the neighborhood so you can talk to people and get votes. That is what we do.
"I don't steer people the wrong way. I am straight up. I don't lead people the wrong way. That is my ballot. That is how I voted."
Broadhurst said he works 62 precincts in Wayne, Greene and Lenoir counties.
Broadhurst said he tries to help people by marking the ballots so that people don't have to tell him whether or not they can read.
"I help people like that. People come there and they look for my ballot," he said. "That is how I voted. I don't tell you how to vote. I don't tell anybody how to vote. This is a sample ballot."
County Elections Director Dane Beavers said Broadhurst is breaking no law.
"Basically anybody can hand out a sample ballot," he said. "The law says anybody can do it as long as you put a disclaimer on it. The ones I have seen so far have disclaimers, and the disclaimer has to tell where the ballot came from, who created it and who paid for it."
According to Faulk's financial filing, his campaign paid Broadhurst $500 for "distributing."
The seat Mrs. Turik holds was made vacant by the death of Tim Finan. When the local bar association was asked to recommend a replacement, it voted for Stackhouse by an overwhelming margin, more than 2-1. But Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, tapped Mrs. Turik to fill Finan's unexpired term.