Winston-Salem, N.C. – Tonight, in a victory for voters and voting rights advocates, the Forsyth County Board of Elections approved 130 provisional ballots that it had originally not counted due to a lack of signatures.
Last month, Forsyth County officials admitted that 130 voters had their ballots rejected in the March 2016 primary through no fault of their own. County election officials said that the cover slip for provisional ballots lacked a designated area for a signature and many voters were not instructed by poll workers to add a signature to the form. Despite this combination of technical and poll worker error, the Forsyth County Board of Elections originally decided to throw out the provisional ballots, coding them “no signature.”
On Wednesday, Kim Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections, directed Tim Tsujii, Forsyth County’s director of elections to move forward with a recount of these ballots, saying that the mistakes made should not be held against voters . “it is the position of this office that deficiencies in the form cannot be held against an otherwise qualified voter, and that the Forsyth Board of Elections should count those votes.,” wrote Strach.
Democracy North Carolina, a statewide voting rights organization that met with Forsyth officials on April 19 to address these problems and that pushed hard for a recount of the “no signature” ballots, praised the work of state and local election officials to correct mistakes and make sure voters’ voices count.
“We applaud the actions of the State Board of Elections and Forsyth County Board of Elections officials to address these problems at the local level and make sure voters aren’t disenfranchised due to administrative mistakes,” said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina. “This victory for voters shows the power of having local advocates monitor elections processes and the importance of bringing problems to the attention of local and state officials — especially this year, given the challenges and steep learning curve our elections workers face in implementing the new voter ID requirements.”
Democracy North Carolina is currently recruiting volunteers throughout the state to attend county Board of Elections meetings as county officials consider their plans for the November election. These local monitors will help ensure access to voting and document any problems in the voting process during this important election year.
Researchers at Democracy North Carolina were the first to alert the state and local boards of elections about the scope of Forsyth County’s disenfranchisement – and how it impacted some precincts and voters more than others. For example, while African American and Latino voters are 30% of the county’s registered voters, they make up 61% of the 130 voters whose ballots were rejected because of “no signature.” Statewide, about 40,000 provisional ballots were cast and nearly 60% counted. However, only 33% of the 962 provisional ballots in Forsyth County were counted.
Forsyth County is one of nearly 20 counties that was asked by the state to recanvass results from the March 15 primary for various reasons.
Democracy North Carolina is a statewide nonpartisan organization that uses research, organizing, and training to increase civic participation, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and remove systemic barriers to voting and serving in elected office.
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Bob Hall, Executive Director, Democracy NC
919-599-3467 or 919-489-1931, bob@democracy-nc.org
Linda Sutton, Western Piedmont Field Organizer, Democracy NC
336-870-2168, linda@democracy-nc.org
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