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KENANSVILLE — When the Duplin County Board of Elections met on Aug. 19, they took care of important business necessary for the upcoming Nov. 4 municipal elections. The meeting was originally scheduled for Aug. 7 but was moved.
North Carolina statutes require a chief judge and two additional judges be selected for each precinct. Duplin County completed that task at the meeting.
Most citizens are familiar with the term “poll workers,” yet many are unaware of the importance of the judges’ positions.
Specifically, the state statute requiring the positions reads, “The chief judges and judges of election shall conduct the primaries and elections within their respective precincts fairly and impartially, and they shall enforce peace and good order in and about the place of registration and voting.”
In an interview with Duplin County Board of Elections Director Carrie Sullivan, she emphasized the role the judges play in all elections.
“The chief judges are the ones that maintain order at the precincts, along with the judges. All three of them make sure that they sign off and verify everything from their precinct and return everything to our office on election night,” she said.
Judges are selected from both major political parties to ensure fairness.
“For chief judges, we have nine Republicans and eight Democrats,” Sullivan said.
This fills the roles required at all of Duplin County’s 17 precincts.
Duplin County Board of Elections Board Chairman Ann Henderson said she was pleased with how smoothly the selection of judges went.
“I think it went great,” Henderson told Duplin Journal. “We had a lot more participation from people who wanted to voluntarily work at the polls, whether as chief judge, a judge position, or just as poll workers. I see a lot more interest and that’s a good thing. We’ve needed that for a long time.”
Another task the Board of Elections has completed in preparation for the upcoming election is attempting to verify the voter registrations of 900 voters in the county.
In response to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, North Carolina began seeking out voters whose registrations lacked either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. This information has been required by federal and state law since 2004, but a large number of voter registration forms in North Carolina lacked the information.
The Duplin County Board of Elections has attempted to contact as many voters as possible who did not have the required information on their voter registration form. The ones the county failed to reach should have received a letter from the state requesting the missing information.
“We have completed our portion,” Sullivan said. She explained that the state sent letters on Aug. 15 to everyone who is still affected.
“They now have the chance to respond to the letter to provide us with the information or fill out a new voter registration,” said Sullivan, adding that if voters don’t have it done by the time the elections come, they will have to vote on a provisional ballot.
Duplin County successfully reached 258 voters with missing information on their voter registration, leaving 642 who will receive letters from the state requesting the information.
