Bladen election board approves roughly 100 ballots; 82 rejected

ELIZABETHTOWN — Roughly 100 more votes are being added to totals from Bladen County following Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Elections.

The long meeting deep into the night ended after 61 absentee by mail ballots and 127 provisionals had been considered by the panel of Democrats Louella Thompson, Deborah Belle, Patsy Sheppard, and Republicans Emery White and Michael Aycock. The board accepted 58 of the absentees, 39 provisionals in full, and nine provisionals in part.

Chris Williams, the staff director, explained that the provisionals were accepted in part because voters cast them in the wrong precinct. Thus, their votes for a local district race may not have counted, but the races in which they would have cast a vote anyway were accepted.

Seventy-nine provisionals and three absentees were fully rejected.

The state Board of Elections website had no new totals for the candidates. Williams said he would be entering the update on Thursday; county offices are closed today for Veterans Day.

Observers of the county commissioners races are anxious to see the impact. The three at-large seats in a five-man race have two candidates, Ray Britt and Mark Gillespie, significantly ahead of the third spot. Incumbents Michael Cogdell, a Democrat, and David Gooden, a Republican, are unofficially separated by only 15 votes — Cogdell 3,042, Gooden 3,027.

The unofficial results already point to a Republican majority staying in place the next two years. Should Cogdell keep his lead, the GOP edge would be 5-4.

According to estimates by the state and county, no other local races are expected to change based on the volume of absentee by mail ballots requested and yet to be received that might come in for consideration. Other races on the ballot outside of Bladen County do remain close and undecided.

The board meets again Thursday evening at 5 to consider the remainder, then has its canvass Friday morning at 11.

The state canvass is Nov. 24, at which times results can become official. Two years ago, election activities in Bladen County came under scrutiny and not all of its races were made official when the state canvassed.