ELIZABETHTOWN — Bladen County’s Board of Elections, so far, has no plans to move its Feb. 11 meeting, the director said Monday morning.
It has resolved, however, to move a precinct.
Chris Williams said he had received an email sent by board member Patsy Sheppard on Friday morning. A copy of the email was also given to the Bladen Journal.
In it, Sheppard writes, “The sole purpose of our February 11th meeting is for the review of the absentee ballots received thus far for the March 3rd primary. Those ballots cannot be removed from the elections office.
“I suppose we could meet in the courthouse just to say the Pledge of Allegiance and then relocate back to the elections office to actually do what we were appointed to do and conduct the business of elections.
“Or we could meet in the courthouse for the Pledge, vote to delay our responsibility to process ballots until the next meeting, and then adjourn.
“Either option is better to me than bringing this circus back into the elections office.”
The email was sent to the full board, Williams and Allen Johnson, a lawyer with the Johnson Law Firm that provides legal counsel for Bladen County.
Williams said he’s been given no instruction to help relocate the meeting; it is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the county board office, 301 S. Cypress St. in Elizabethtown.
The Pledge of Allegiance has not been a regular part of the election board’s meetings. When the panel met Tuesday of last week, an impromptu pledge was recited during the portion of the meeting for open comments. Chairwoman Louella Thompson, who sat through it with fellow Democrats Sheppard and Deborah Belle, came out of a closed session for personnel matters saying the board discussed the pledge and she would seek to have law enforcement prevent such an occurrence at future meetings.
Two days later, following extensive backlash including from the governor who appointed her, Thompson changed her mind and said the pledge would be added to the agenda.
Thompson and Sheppard are currently facing complaint charges for a third time. The state Board of Elections has yet to set a preliminary hearing date.
In the resolution moving a precinct, the Bethel voting site that had formerly used Singletary United Methodist Church on 3rd Street in Dublin will be moved to the old Lions Club building, also known as Dublin Community Center, 120 2nd St. in Dublin.