ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — The Alamance County Board of Elections says there are absolutely no issues with the ballots being distributed across the county.
On Saturday, a Twitter thread purported that a poll-watcher was telling people voting in Alamance County that Sheriff Terry Johnson was not being included on some ballots.
The Board of Elections released a statement regarding the rumors on Saturday.
“This week a few voters reported that a candidate had not been on their ballot. They did not mention this while voting, but reported it after they voted. Elections staff verified that all candidates that are supposed to be on ballots are correctly listed. Any information a candidate is not on a ballot is not correct. For accurate information about the elections process, please contact the Alamance County Board of Elections.
The Board of Elections reassures the voters of Alamance County that the names of all eligible candidates are included on all ballots at all early voting sites, absentee by mail ballots and Election Day ballots. Under state law voting equipment must be tested prior to each election, which includes proofing ballots and candidates and this fact is unequivocally verified.”
Alamance County Board of Election’s full statement
The Facebook page for Terry Johnson’s reelection campaign made a post on Sunday that read in part: “After numerous voters expressed concern that Terry Johnson’s name did not appear on their ballots, the Johnson for Sheriff Campaign poll greeters began asking voters to be vigilant to assure that our sheriff’s name appeared on both the screen and also on their printed ballot if they believed they had voted for the sheriff. Numerous individuals posted and tweeted lies about the issue referring to “fraudulent and false claims and disinformation” and claiming that our campaign has been instructed by BoE to remove relevant FB posts – no such thing ever occurred! County Commission Candidate, Anthony Pierce has called our campaign to educate voters, “illegal” – when clearly it is not!”
The campaign’s Facebook page also alleges that people were attempting to intimidate poll greeters campaigning for Johnson.
Rockingham County experienced similar allegations of fraudulent or insecure voting practices shortly after early voting opened. The State Board of Elections also released a statement warning voters about false information circulating about voting, both by text and by mail.
“We’re hearing from a number of voters about various mailings that have gone out, as well as text messages indicating inaccuracies in their voting history from previous elections or even text messages saying they haven’t voted yet,” Karen Brinson Bell said, the executive director of the State Board of Elections.
The Department of Justice announced Monday that Alamance County would be one of over 60 voting sites that they would be monitoring, along with four other locations in North Carolina:
- Columbus County
- Harnett County
- Mecklenburg County
- Wayne County
They said that they would be monitoring these sites in order to ensure compliance with voters’ rights.
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice also said that it will accept public complaints through its call center concerning possible violations of voting rights laws.
Johnson has served as Sheriff of Alamance County for 20 years, and for the last 12 years, his reelection campaigns have been uncontested. This year, he’s running against Kelly White.
He was investigated in 2012 by the Department of Justice, which reported that the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office under Johnson’s leadership engaged in a pattern of discriminatory policing against Latinos.
