Carteret voters plan to send a reminder to General Assembly
June 24,2005
JANNETTE PIPPIN
DAILY NEWS

BEAUFORT - It's been eight months since more than 4,000 Carteret County voters learned the ballots they cast for the November 2004 election were never counted.

A mishap over the number of ballots that an electronic voting unit could hold resulted in 4,438 votes cast during the early period never being recorded. And with no paper trail, the votes were forever lost.

It's an election "debacle" that Dave Taylor of Beaufort said hasn't been forgotten, and he and other people will gather at 8 a.m. Saturday morning at the Carteret County courthouse to make their point.

Taylor said the purpose of the gathering is to send a message to state legislators that there are concerned voters who never want to see the same thing happen again.

"We want to get some public attention stirred up so legislators know there are still more than 4,000 people here whose votes disappeared," he said.

The event is being hosted by the Carteret County Coalition for Verified Voting, a local group associated with the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting.

One of the goals of the group is to see that every vote cast gets properly counted and that voters have paper verification of their vote.

"If there were a paper trail, there would have been no question of what happened," Taylor said.

And for the N.C. Coalition of Verified Voting, it's also important that voters be able to verify that paper ballot so they are sure their vote is recorded before they leave the polls.

The state General Assembly is considering legislation to restore confidence in elections, and part of the original bill before the House and Senate calls for voter-verified paper record in the case of direct record electronic voting machines.

As the bills move through committee, supporters don't want to see the original version of the legislation become watered down.

"We've got to make sure (the bills) are addressing the problems," Taylor said.

Taylor and his wife were among the Carteret County voters who learned the votes they cast in the November 2004 election were lost, and their concern prompted them to attend a rally at the state capitol on voter irregularities around the state.

With so many votes lost in Carteret County, Taylor was shocked to see that he and his wife appeared to be the only ones from the county to be in attendance.

As Taylor followed the voting issues over the Internet, he felt someone locally needed to speak out and bring more attention to the issue. And with guidance from the N.C. Coalition for Verifiable Voting, he is working to do that locally.

And Saturday's event is part of that effort. Any area resident concerned about voting security is invited to attend the rally in Beaufort.