State dismisses New Hanover election appeal

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — The State Board of Elections dismissed an appeal Tuesday that was originally filed in New Hanover County.

According to an affidavit and additional attachments filed by John Christian Anderson, election violations occurred at Precinct W-29, which is the Williston Middle School precinct on 10th Street. Anderson said a witness told him that officials did not regularly inspect the voting enclosures and that several times sample ballots created by the New Hanover Democratic Party were found in the booths. The complaint says precinct officials should remove those sample ballots after the voter leaves, because the presence of the ballots could have tainted all subsequent voters who entered the enclosures with the sample ballots still in the enclosure. Anderson says this violates several voting statues in North Carolina.

Today, Anderson told the state board board of elections that the New Hanover county board of elections would not let him take an oath at the meeting in November to defend he affadavit.

Anderson then told the board that the one of the assistant judges Allen Rogers at Williston Middle School told Anderson that there were sample ballots being brought in.

“In Rogers opinion, it would have influenced people’s decisions, because they were being left in the voting booth all day long,” Anderson said.

Then the New Hanover County Board of Elections Director Marvin McFadyen told the state board that it was normal and they did what they were supposed to.

“It’s literature, political literature that’s brought in by voters,” McFadyen said. “It is part of a precinct official’s responsibility to the best that they can police the area and get rid of that literature as needed. Our precinct officials said that they did that to the best that they could.”

John Ferrante also answered questions from the state board about the hearing in November.

“I didn’t feel it was important to hear from him, because the issue that we needed to zoom in on was Mr. Anderson wasn’t there,” Ferrante said. “There were people that were there. I didn’t think he had anything to add except what was in the protest, which was all third and fourth hand.”

The original appeal filed to the New Hanover County Board of Elections was dismissed.