Duplin Elections Board sworn in

KENANSVILLE — On July 22, the Duplin County Board of Elections meeting room was a full house for the swearing-in of new and returning board members.

Duplin County Register of Deeds Anita Savage administered the oath of office to three returning board members — Ann Henderson of Wallace, Angela Mainor of Warsaw, and Vickie Ezzell of Rose Hill—along with new member Roland Perry of Beulaville. A fourth returning member, Michael Lynch of Wallace, was unable to attend the ceremony and was sworn in later that day by Board of Elections Director Carrie Sullivan.

Henderson was elected as the new chair of the board, replacing Mainor, who will now serve as secretary after many years as chair.

Following the ceremony, board members introduced themselves to those in attendance, with their comments centered on the importance of open and transparent elections.

“We want to have fair, true elections that nobody has a question about transparency,” board chair Henderson said.

“Regardless of who’s in control, quote, unquote, it’s still a bipartisan board,” Ezzell said. “There’s no room in this office for partisanship. The voters of the county are our most important priority.”

Mainor added, “I look forward to being non-partisan. I don’t see people as Republicans. I don’t see people as Democrats. I don’t see people as Libertarian. I see people as people.”

Henderson said the board will be very busy.

“We have a long list of things that have to be accomplished between now and November,” she said. “This team will keep us on track. We answer to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.”’

One item on that list is confirming the identity of some voter registrations. Prior to the ceremony, Sullivan told Duplin Journal that her office is currently working to verify approximately 900 voter registrations with missing identification information. If the Duplin County Board of Elections office is unsuccessful in reaching the voters affected, those names will be forwarded to the North Carolina Board of Elections, which will send letters to the voters to give them the opportunity to bring their registrations into compliance with state law.

In other business, the board voted to change the time the board meets on the first Thursday of each month. Lots of discussion regarding the meeting time centered on giving more opportunity for citizens to work during the day to attend the meetings. After a discussion about making meetings more accessible to working citizens, the board agreed to hold meetings at 5:30 p.m. for the next six months on a trial basis.

The next board meeting will be held on Thursday, Aug. 7.