Vote challenge upheld in Dare

Published 7:59 am Saturday, September 21, 2019

Before the Dare County Board of Elections could complete a canvass of vote results for the Third Congressional District election held September 10, they first had to conduct a challenge of voters who cast more than one vote.

The hearings revealed that two voters in Manteo and two voters in Kill Devil Hills cast multiple ballots. After hearing polling judges admit they made a mistake allowing the second vote to be cast and two of those casting votes saying they were confused and did not intentionally vote twice, the election board decided to void the early vote cast.

A fifth person was identified as casting more than one vote, but was not challenged because it was outside the allowed challenge period. The outcome of the election that saw Republican Greg Murphy romp to an easy win was never in doubt.

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The Dare County Board of Elections will institute a clearer way to identify voters who have cast early votes and prevent them from casting a second vote on election day. Although this appeared to be a case of voter confusion and lacked the intent of election fraud, it was clear the board wants safeguards in place to maintain the one person, one vote standard in future elections.

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