DMV reports halt canvass
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on November 19, 2016 11:04 PM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Doug Wiggins, center at desk, chairman of the Wayne County Board of Elections, along with his staff, check over the remaining absentee ballots at the Wayne County Board of Elections on Thursday afternoon.
It could be after Thanksgiving before Wayne County and other counties across the state are able to certify their Nov. 8 election results.
The delay is the result of a federal court ruling that votes of people who signed up at Division of Motor Vehicle offices must be counted unless the agency proves those people refused to register.
The DMV is accused in a pending lawsuit of failing to send registration requests to the state board of elections.
The votes should count unless the DMV shows the voters affirmatively refused in writing to register, the court said.
Counties including Wayne are still waiting for those reports.
The Wayne County vote canvass that was to have been conducted Friday morning has been delayed until 2 p.m. Monday, and could be delayed even longer.
It, along with preliminary hearings on two election protests, will be held at the Wayne County Board of Elections office, 209 S. William St.
Both are open to the public.
"We are still being delayed by the state Board (of Elections)," Wayne County Elections Director Dane Beavers said Friday afternoon. "Every county has been delayed by the court-ordered DMV reports.
"We were told we would have them on Thursday. Then we were told we would have it on Friday. It is the report we need in order to complete the provisional research. Every time I ask ... now they are saying maybe Monday, Tuesday. I don't know."
State law allows canvass meetings to be delayed for "a reasonable time thereafter" following Friday.
Beavers said he would love to be able to complete the canvass on Monday, but that he would not be surprised if it has to be further delayed.
"The court ruled if there was an encounter (at DMV offices) that their ballots should count because I guess there were some issues with the data being processed in a timely manner or whatever," Beavers said. "So they had to do a lot of research to see if they could find a declination form that they refused the registration process.
"So we are we are waiting on that report to finish our provisionals (ballots). Every county in the state is in the same boat. So we have all had to delay. We won't be able to complete any canvassing until we get those reports."
The local board spent about five and a half hours Thursday reviewing provisional and supplemental absentee ballots.
Provisional ballots include people who did not have an active record of registration, but had indicated that they had registered at the DMV, Beavers said.
"Some counties, I have heard have started, like us we are scheduled for Monday, and if we are not able to canvass on Monday, I am tempted maybe to delay it to the following Monday because we all have been working since Labor Day nonstop day and night," Beavers said. "I am not going to let this interfere with people's holiday plans.
"We have done our work, and we were prepared to canvass today (Friday). We would love to be able to put this election to bed and move on with our work, but because of this data that is not available, it's an issue for the entire state."
The state was expecting to see who won the race Friday, he said.
"But now we are hearing about a lot of election protests," Beavers said. "We have received two protests here regarding a voter that apparently had a felony conviction and cast ballot and possibly a person who voted here in Wayne County and maybe in another state."
Wayne County Republican Party Chairman Brent Heath of Mount Olive filed the protests that will be the subject of a Monday afternoon preliminary hearing.
Heath will be allowed to present any evidence to the board, and the board will decide whether there is any credence to move to a full board hearing or whether they can address the issue "right then and there," Beavers said.
In one filing, Heath alleges that Corey Lavell Dickerson of Fremont has been "adjudged guilty of a felony" and that as such his ballots cast are "invalid under state law."
"The Wayne County Board of Elections must invalidate all ballots for any office whatsoever deemed to be cast by persons adjudged guilty of a felony in violation of state law," Heath said in the filing.
In his second protest, Heath contends that it appears that Albert Artis of Pikeville voted in both Wayne County and in Georgia.
"Casting a ballot in more than one state is a clear violation of North Carolina and federal election laws. Therefore, these ballots were erroneously counted and tabulated by the Wayne County Board of Elections," Heath said in the protest. "The Wayne County Board of Elections must invalidate all ballots for any office whatsoever deemed to be cast by persons who voted in multiple states in violation of state law."