Fifteen extra votes were added to the tally in Macon County as part of the state-mandated canvass conducted by the Macon County Board of Elections on Friday, March 15.
The five-member board spent an hour and a half carefully looking over 42 ballots, determining which ones were fine and what couldn’t be counted.
Out of the 42 ballots in question, 22 were provisional votes, two were from overseas, one was military and the remaining 17 needed review due to issues such as lack of Voter ID.
After examination, 15 were approved and counted while the board denied the other 27. Several of the counted were provisional votes made by senior citizens in nursing homes.
Reasons for votes not counted included the voter being a felon and not having their voting rights restored, voting on the wrong party’s ballot, or not being registered in Macon County.
A small number of voters declined to or didn’t have a Voter ID and filled out a reasonable impediment form. Only a handful of people refused to fill out the form and just let their vote not count, staff told the board.
The added 15 votes did not change any results. In the Macon County Board of Commissioners District 2 Republican primary, the new votes added eight for Josh Young and five for Chris Browning, with two others not voting in that race. This puts Young’s official total at 3,950 votes (60.98%) with Browning finishing at 2,528 votes (39.02%).
In the commissioners District 3 Republican primary, incumbent Paul Higdon got nine votes to challenger Barry Breeden’s four votes, with two not voting in that race. It didn’t affect the race as Breeden unseated Higdon by 220 votes or 3.42%, 3,331 to 3,111.
Young and Breeden will be unopposed in the November General Election.
Second Primary
Due to no candidate reaching 30% in the Republican primary for the N.C. Lieutenant Governor or N.C. Auditor’s races, the top two vote-getters will go head-to-head in a rare second primary in the next two months.
Early voting for the second primary starts Thursday, April 25. Early voting will be in the same locations of the first primary: the Highlands Community Center and the Robert Carpenter Community Building in Franklin. Thibault said voting will be in a smaller room of the community building for the Second Primary.
Early voting is April 25-26, 29-30, May 1-3 and May 6-11. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 11 will be the only Saturday for early voting, due to state law requiring early voting to be open on the final Saturday. Saturday hours will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All Macon County precincts will be open on Second Primary Day, Tuesday, May 14, Thibault confirmed.
Voter registrations will not be allowed during this second primary time frame. Since both runoffs are in the Republican Party, people registered as Republican or those registered as Unaffiliated who choose a Republican ballot, can vote in the second primary. Unaffiliated voters who chose a Democratic ballot in the primary cannot vote in the runoff. Those registered with other parties cannot vote in the runoff.
As part of conducting a second primary, Thibault got unanimous authorization from the Board of Elections to ask the county for $50,000 to pay for it, and she will ask the county to approve contracts for accuracy and testing of the voting equipment.
Thibault will also inquire about the proposed sale of the Pine Grove School at the next county commissioners’ meeting, noting it’s the Ellijay precinct location, and they need 45 days to give notice of a precinct change before an election.
The Macon County Board of Elections will have absentee ballot meetings starting April 9 and every Tuesday through Second Primary Day, May 14, starting at 5 p.m. in the Board of Elections office, located on the first floor of the courthouse.