Posted on 02/04/2005 9:00:57 PM PST by gfsiii
WRAL.com State Supreme Court: Some Provisional Ballots Violate N.C. Law
POSTED: 5:05 pm EST February 4, 2005 UPDATED: 6:31 pm EST February 4, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday that provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct on election day cannot be lawfully counted, raising new questions about the state's Nov. 2 election results.
N.C. SUPREME COURT Read the ruling from the state Supreme Court.
The ruling was a victory for the Republican candidate for superintendent of public instruction, Bill Fletcher, who is locked in a tight battle with Democrat June Atkinson and who said that provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct should not be counted.
A Wake County court ruled against Fletcher, but the Supreme Court unanimously reversed that Friday and returned the case to that court.
Fletcher trails Atkinson in balloting from November's general election by 8,535 votes out of more than 3.3 million cast.
In the high court's opinion, Associate Justice George Wainwright said election officials should "work with voters to help them locate their correct precinct" rather than accept ballots cast at the wrong precinct.
"Indeed, when a voter appears at the wrong polling place, election officials have a statutory duty to assist the voter in finding the correct precinct in which to vote," Wainwright wrote. "In sum, North Carolina law does not permit out-of-precinct provisional ballots to be counted in state and local elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
Will be interesting to see if it affects the race or not.
The wildcard is that there are still 4400 votes from the highly Rep. county that were lost ... so if the race gets inside of that margin ...
This has to do with state law. The fact that Ohio doesn't count provisionals in the wrong precinct has nothing to do with NC.
Note that I have no idea if the court is right about NC law.
there's a box on Hillary's desk in her office
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