New Hanover County Board of Elections addresses irregularity with voter’s online-cast ballot

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The early voting period for this year’s election began on October 17th, but one New Hanover Count resident who voted early had a big issue — someone else apparently voted for him.

Jerry Ballard is visually impaired so he used an online portal on October 20th.

Online voting is only available to those who are blind or visually impaired.

Ballard said this was the first time he had ever voted using this portal.

Two days later, he received a message from the New Hanover County Board of Elections that said his ballot was spoiled and wasn’t going to be counted because someone else had voted in-person using his name.

Ballard said he was afraid that whoever voted for him might not have had the same ideals as him.

“Well, pretty perturbed,” Ballard said. “I think that’s a right that a lot of people shed a lot of blood and a lot of people have died for the freedom to vote, you know, and I take it, you know, seriously. I didn’t like that because I don’t know whether that person voted the same way I would have voted, I don’t know whether their vote is going to be counted or whether my vote is going to be counted.”

The New Hanover County Board of Elections director Rae Hunter-Havens sent a statement to WWAY that said:

The New Hanover County Board of Elections follows all N.C. State Board of Elections guidance and protocols to ensure all votes are properly registered and accounted for.

In the event of any irregularity, staff from the Board of Elections works to determine the cause of a discrepancy, ensuring proper procedures are followed to maintain an honest and accurate voting process.

The New Hanover County Board of Elections is actively working with a community member to address a discrepancy discovered through safeguards used during the vote certification process.

We are committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.

Despite that, Ballard said he’s worried about whether a similar situation has happened to other people, both here in the Cape Fear and elsewhere in the nation.

“I was thinking to myself, you know, if this happened to me, how many other people, you know, has this happened to, not only in New Hanover County but across the nation, you know. And I don’t think it’s right because this is a very important election.”