Canvass proves election night tallies
wrong
By Nancy Morrison
Provisional ballots, inclement weather and cell phones
contributed to erroneous vote tallies reported on election night,
Feb. 3, by the Avery County Board of Elections, according to board
chairman John Canupp and board member Gerald Arthur.
Members of the Avery County
Board of Elections review and finalize the voting totals
for the land transfer tax special election. From left:
director Sheila Ollis, Republican representative Gerald
Johnson, chairman Johnny Canupp and secretary David Atkins
Jr.
Photo by Heather
Faulkner |
The official results of the canvass released at the public certification
Tuesday, Feb. 10, showed the land transfer tax measure actually
failed by 35 votes instead of passing by 25 votes as the board
initially reported.
The final official vote count was 1,414 for the tax and 1,449
against. Although the provisional ballots, which were added to
the count, resulted in nine votes for the measure and 12 against,
those figures were not sufficient by themselves to defeat the
tax.
According to the figures certified by the board of elections,
the big difference came from the Frank precinct, where the figures
were reversed in the election night totals. The correct Frank
precinct figures are 17 for, 46 against, and these results changed
the outcome because, on election night, the figures released were
46 for, 17 against.
There were several other changes to precinct totals that can be
attributed to adding the provisional ballots that qualified into
each one’s precinct.
Mistakes in transferring information may have been because of
weak cell phone signals in some of the precincts where no landline
was available, said both Canupp and Arthur.
Canupp said it was hard to get a good signal in Minneapolis, where
he lives, and that it was hard to understand what was being said
with the signal cutting in and out.
Added to the problems encountered on election night were the dangerous
roads and snowy weather. Election board members said they grew
concerned about the safety of precinct officials if they tried
to come into Newland to bring results, so board members told precinct
officials to call in their results, secure their machines and
ballots, and bring them in the next day. Since the ballots weren’t
taken physically to the election office on election night, the
results given out were those figures taken over the phone.
Also, according to the board, there was a one-vote error with
one of the machines.
“Machines are not infallible,” Arthur said. “If
the wrong information is put in, the results are wrong.”
Board members said their computers went down for a short time
on the last day of one-stop voting, and a laptop computer had
to be utilized. They were not able to access information to certify
voters during that time, and one of the voters was later found
to be ineligible.
County manager Robert Wiseman, who was attending a meeting in
Winston-Salem, was reached by cell phone and had the following
to say: “It is my understanding that the North Carolina Association
of Realtors spent approximately $70,000 on ads, brochures and
phone calls, and much of the information was misleading and contributed
to a lack of understanding, which influenced people to vote against
the transfer tax.”
Since the monies that would have been raised by the transfer tax
had been targeted to go to the school system, Dr. Keith Eades,
Avery County Superintendent of Schools, was asked how he felt
about the reversal of the measure.
“I was very disappointed the referendum did not pass,”
he said. “I think we would have benefited from it very much
in our learning environments and with technology.”
An ad placed by the North Carolina Association of Realtors in
last week’s Avery Journal-Times and other local newspapers
has generated much controversy among supporters of the tax. The
list supposedly contained names of many Avery County residents
who had given permission to use their names as opponents of the
transfer tax. A number of residents were dismayed to learn their
names were on the list and they had not talked with anyone nor
had they given permission. Also, there were at least three, and
possibly as many as five, names of deceased people on the list.
Brad Crone, representing Campaign Connections, the advertising
agency that placed the ad, and Joey Newsome, attorney for the
North Carolina Board of Realtors, were present at the certification
on Tuesday.
Precinct by precinct, here are the certified voting results:
Altamont – with 913 registered voters, 237 votes were
cast with 141 for and 96 against.
Banner Elk – with 2,353 registered voters, 494 votes were
cast with 221 for and 272 against.
Beech Mountain – with 462 registered voters, 111 votes
were cast with 29 for and 82 against.
Careys Flat – with 83 registered voters, 15 votes were
cast with 7 for and 8 against.
Cranberry – with 342 registered voters, 99 votes were cast
with 49 for and 50 against.
Elk Park – with 701 registered voters, 160 votes were cast
with 75 for and 85 against.
Frank – with 240 registered voters, 63 votes were cast
with 17 for and 46 against.
Heaton – with 342 registered voters, 95 votes were cast
with 48 for and 47 against.
Hughes – with 302 registered voters, 80 votes were cast
with 44 for and 36 against.
Ingalls – with 680 registered voters, 186 votes were cast
with 87 for and 99 against.
Linville – with 474 registered voters, 119 votes were cast
with 50 for and 69 against.
Minneapolis – with 293 registered voters, 98 votes were
cast with 50 for and 48 against.
Montezuma – with 445 registered voters, 140 votes were
cast with 92 for and 48 against.
Newland #1 – with 846 registered voters, 229 votes were
cast with 121 for and 108 against.
Newland #2 – with 752 registered voters, 169 votes were
cast with 98 for and 71 against.
Pineola – with 1,131 registered voters, 286 votes were
cast with 148 for and 137 against.
Plumtree – with 485 registered voters, 112 votes were cast
with 58 for and 54 against.
Pyatte – with 297 registered voters, 93 votes were cast
with 50 for and 43 against.
Roaring Creek – with 314 registered voters, 79 votes were
cast with 29 for and 50 against.
There were 40 absentee ballots given out and 34 were returned
by the deadline on Feb. 2 at 5 p.m., with 6 for and 28 against.
The board of elections members commended the Avery County Sheriff’s
Office and law enforcement officials for all their help during
the severe weather event on Feb. 3.
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