New Statewide Election for Commissioner of Agriculture Race (Attempted Election Theft)

WRAL.com ^ | December 29, 2004 | WRAL News

[GOPRaleigh]

Board Orders New Statewide Election For Ag Commissioner Republican Steve Troxler Plans To Appeal Board's Ruling

POSTED: 11:47 am EST December 29, 2004 UPDATED: 12:26 pm EST December 29, 2004

RALEIGH, N.C. -- After nearly two months of court fights and wrangling over lost votes, the State Board of Elections on Wednesday ordered a new statewide election in the closely contested race for agriculture commissioner.

The board voted 3-2 Wednesday to amend its earlier order, with the board's three Democrats voting in the majority. Republican Steve Troxler said the board's latest decision is part of partisan politics.

"To me, it's a miscarriage of justice," Troxler said after the elections board meeting. "When you have been in this election process as long as I have, from the minute they started reporting until they started recounting the votes with me still being ahead and now wanting to throw out 3.3 million votes and go to a new statewide election, it's nuts."

[GOPRaleigh]

My first post so be gentle out there. I have brought this racr up before because this is setting a very dangerous precidence.

[Swanks]

Of course. The most expense solution, that also holds the most promise for the Rat candidate. The pubbie won the majority of the vote statewide. So lets re-do that and see if the results are different (in key Dem strongholds) this time.

[Adder]

Well i don't know.
Seems to me that the interest in this election will be minimal and may favor repubs who will always vote if there is an lection...that duty thing.

Oh well, will have to vote for Troxler again.

[GOPRaleigh]

I agree that this may help Troxler but that isn't the point. The Dems want a new statewide contest that will cost the state over 3 million dollars all because they know the lost votes in Carteret County will strenghten troxler's lead.

This is insane.

[handy old one]

This sounds like a down and dirty race for control of dirt. I say find the largest HOG in the state and have the candidates wrestle the hog to see who wins. Results to be televised nation wide to show you may get more than you ask for with a recount.

[GOPRaleigh]

Actually, this state position has access to a LOT of state money. This office oversees the bidding process for our State Fair. Just ask our former Commissioner of Ag. Meg Scott Phipps about the amount of money involved. Of course, you'd have to visit her in prison to ask.

[handy old one]

That's why I said to use a large HOG. Pork-barrel type project. If you can carry off the hog better be watched. They may carry off other things $$$.

[Phantom Lord]

This is bull. The simple solution and the correct solution is to allow those whose ballots were lost (because they somehow know who these people are) to revote and be done with it.

The questions I have on that, is the county in which the votes were lost heavily GOP? Since they know whose votes were lost they know the peoples registration. Are these people heavily republican?

I suspect, but have no evidence, that is the case so they needed to find a solution other than allowing those people to vote again.

And with a statewide revote, and a very large deployed military population, will they be getting absentee ballots to our fighting men and women in time?

And if not, is that not purposeful disenfranchisement and couldn't Troxler lauch a successful challenge based on the exclusion of overseas military voters?

I love living in NC and will never move back to NY. But I often have to wonder how the state has not ended up rivaling 3rd world countries with all of the incompetence and corruption that abounds in this state at all levels and aspects of government.

[pabianice]

Old news. Here in Grafton, MA, when a special vote for a new school failed, the town declared the vote invalid. How? One guy claimed he had been out of town and hadn't known about the election. The town's solution: hold another election. So Grafton re-did the vote until they got the results they wanted.

A tip 0' the hat from Grafton, MA, to Raleigh, NC.

[GOPRaleigh]

The worst part of all of this is they know who the 4400 voters are. And yes, they are mostly Republican voters. The county is a heavy GOP county.

What do you think will be the turnout in the spring - 10%, 15% tops? If so, the State Board of Elections has effectively disenfranchised 85%-90% of the voters who voted in that race.

Unreal!

[Phantom Lord]

10 to 15 % turnout? I think that is a long shot. I predict between 5 and 8% turnout statewide. It will be worse than a primary. Though not as bad as the 1% turnout the Democrat Caucus had this year.

[Adder]

Agreed.

But that judge wasn't going to be happy without something like this. The ANSWER was presented: let Carteret County revote. He said "no."

Troxler can try to protest it but I don't think it will fly. The cost is never a consideration, sadly....esp when its dumblecrats spending the $$'s.

[VeritatisSplendor]

As a matter of law, the judge's ruling throwing out the proposed Carteret county election was correct -- the new election must be either confined to the 4400 voters whose votes were lost (their names are known!), or be statewide. Otherwise, the Carteret county residents whose votes were not originally lost get extra voting power compared with residents outside Carteret County.

Since the missing votes would have had to go 3:1 for the Democrat to change the result of the election, and since they were from a county that went 3:2 for the Republican, the Democrat ought, as a matter of justice, to concede, because he would surely have lost if all votes had been counted. However, he is within his rights to demand a new election. What Troxler ought to do is get affidavits from enough GOP voters whose votes were lost to prove that he won (he would need to find over 1,000 of them, and he probably got over 2,500 of the missing votes, so this is probably doable).

[GOPRaleigh]

I'm afraid that we are headed for an unnecessary and expensive state election in the spring regardless of what Troxler produces.

It is sad that common sense does not enter into the picture. Do you think this decision could carry over to the mess in Washington state? We in NC are now no different than WA state and the Ukraine. Sad.