My Visit To The Board Of Elections....

This past Friday, I journeyed to the Board of Elections. The purpose of my journey was to confirm whether my vote for myself in the 8th Congressional District would be tossed in the trash. I walked into the office and a lady asked if she could help me. I asked her if someone could look over a copy of my absentee ballot and tell me which votes were being cast out.

Silence....then confusion ensued.

Christina Daniels came into the room and took control of the chaos. She confirmed what I already knew, North Carolina has a general statute that forbids write-in votes in partisan races (Disclaimer: You can gather petition signatures to have a write-in line inserted onto the ballot for a particular race).

I pointed out the fact that the U.S. and N.C. Constitutions say I am qualified to serve in Congress.

She agreed...

I told her that a general statute could not trump constitutional law...

She agreed...

I asked her if the Constitution or conscience had any role in the BOE decision to throw away my vote...

With regret, she admitted that they do not.

I thanked her for her help and then made my way to the basement of the building where the process to count provisional votes was about to start.

Near the end of the count, I asked Mr. Moss, Cabarrus BOE Chairman, if I could ask him a question. I walked up front to the table he was sitting at. I introduced myself and gave him my voter ID number. I presented him with a copy of my absentee ballot and asked him the same questions I asked upstairs. He couldn't answer my questions. He said he would have to dig out my original ballot to know for sure. I told him that wasn't necessary. I told him that I already knew the answer. About this time, Linda Grist, BOE Director got involved and confirmed to Mr. Moss that there was a write-in ban here in N.C..

I told Mr. Moss I had announced in August 2005 that I was seeking the Libertarian nomination for U.S. Congress, District 8, only to have my party decertified a couple weeks later. I quoted Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. I quoted Article 6, Section 6 of the N.C. Constitution. I told him that I was being treated like a second class citizen. I told him that I was tired of being lied to.

I told him I was taking legal action. Linda Grist said that they were only following the law. I corrected her by saying they were following a statute, the Constitution was the law.

Linda walked me to the door. She put her arm around me as we walked...I put my arm around her. She said I was doing what any citizen had a right to do. Before I walked out the door, I looked into Linda's eyes and asked her to put herself in my position...to listen to her conscience.

I hope she does...