NEW HANOVER COUNTY — As the New Hanover County Board of Elections prepares for its first post-election meeting Tuesday night, county leaders have also advised the board to seek proper legal representation, per internal emails.
READ MORE: Absentee ballot count ticks up in NHC, county leadership and state elections staff at odds
On Monday, County Manager Chris Coudriet informed commissioners the county attorney’s office suggested to the elections office it retain outside legal counsel in regards to an apparent violation of state law.
According to a Nov. 6 statement from Elections Director Rae Hunter-Havens, absentee ballots received after Oct. 31 would be processed and counted on Nov. 14 along with provisional ballots. The Oct. 31 “administrative cutoff” departs from state law; General Statute 163‑234 indicates “absentee ballots received prior to election day shall be counted on election day.”
Any absentee ballots received on Election Day are to be counted during the 10-day canvass period.
The board of elections will have a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., now in the Paynter Room of the Northeast Library instead of the board of elections building. The county expects to have more people in attendance, due to news media coverage of the unfolding events between the county officials questioning the board of elections staff, but also because of the interest in the close races
“We’ll have disaster within a crisis if people believe they’ve been blocked out,” Coudriet wrote in an email before the location change.
There are currently 1,750 uncounted absentee ballots and 1,912 uncounted provisional ballots, enough to influence the outcome of the county commissioner and school board races. Tuesday’s meeting will not be to count ballots, which will occur on Nov. 14.
Provisional ballots are counted post-Election Day, along with any absentee ballots received on Election Day. Hunter-Havens has written to the county staff it’s “standard protocol” for counts to continue past election night.
Tuesday night’s meeting will include discussion about the vote count process “at length,” board of elections member Derrick Miller confirmed to Port City Daily:
“The bottom line is that we will count every eligible vote, and we will have the official results on time for Friday’s election canvas [sic], just as we are required to by law and just as we have always done in New Hanover County. The official results are never known before canvas. The period between the release of the unofficial results on election night and the counting of the very last vote at canvas is a stressful time for everyone waiting to learn the results of very close races. We are all feeling this right now, and I ask everyone for patience while the Board of Elections works to fulfill its duty.”
Still, County Manager Coudriet’s emails in the days after the election indicate his exasperation at the local board of elections’ actions. The board purportedly told him they were advised by the State Board of Elections on the Oct. 31 administrative cutoff for absentee ballots to be held post-election count; the state board denied this.
In new emails shared with media on Tuesday, Coudriet said if the local board of elections believed the administrative cutoff was part of the state’s advice, it was a misunderstanding.
“There appears to be no state guidance around the administrative action for a cutoff date,” Coudriet wrote to commissioners Friday. “I have no words. It is the exact opposite of what we’ve been told by local officials and have communicated on more than one occasion to the media and you the board of commissioners.”
Coudriet informed commissioners of the legal counsel suggestion to the local elections board in a follow-up email on Monday.
“In prior rulings, courts have determined elections offices to be separate entities from county government,” Coudriet wrote.
The county board of elections is technically overseen by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, who appoints four of its five-member board — two from each party — with the governor appointing the chair.
In further correspondence distancing the county from the elections office’s apparent bungle, Coudriet said if administrative cutoffs have been the “business-as-usual model,” he and his staff never knew it. Hunter-Havens indicated in an email last week the elections board had done a cutoff before, though two local elected commissioners told PCD Monday they weren’t aware of it from their former elections.
“As county staff we would have all in elections past made sure elections had what it needed to comply with state law; this time too,” Coudriet wrote.
Coudriet also reminded commissioners of the county’s contributions to the elections office. These include the county’s $1.77-million appropriation to elections in the current fiscal year and the brand new elections office beside the NHC Government Center, which also served as an early voting site. This comes as some community members have said the board is understaffed and underfunded.
Coudriet said the county also provided additional resources for traffic control at the new elections building.
“Any resource request made during the elections season, that I as manager was aware, was met,” Coudriet wrote.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Dane Scalise, the current second-place finisher, has filed a legal complaint against the board of elections, Commissioners Bill Rivenbark, first-place finisher, and Rob Zapple, who is not part of this election, told Port City Daily Monday they thought the elections office was unprepared for the volume of ballots received during early voting and the added administrative work, such as vetting IDs, that went along with them.
However, Hunter-Havens told board members in the spring there would be no issues with staffing for the entire length of early voting. The board of elections budget included roughly 10 to 13 officials to work the five early voting sites, according to PCD’s previous reporting.
Hunter-Havens has not directly responded to any of PCD’s inquiries about the administrative cutoff or outstanding ballots over the past week.
Several county staff members will be in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting. Per the Northeast Library’s website, the Paynter Room seats 210 people.
Port City Daily will be at the meeting, so look for coverage on Wednesday.
Catch up on PCD reporting about the uncounted ballots here:
Candidate files complaint against local elections board amid uncounted ballot confusion
Absentee ballot count ticks up in NHC, county leadership and state elections staff at odds
NHC commissioner, school board races hinge on 3,400 uncounted ballots, candidates talk results
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