Chances are favorable a lawsuit will be filed in Bladen County commissioner race

ELIZABETHTOWN — Litigation may be coming in an election already certified by the state Board of Elections.

David Gooden, a Republican county commissioner, was 11 votes short of the third available at-large seat in the general election. Michael Cogdell, a Democrat, finished with 3,054 votes to Gooden’s 3,043 in the five-candidate race led by Republican Ray Britt (5,233) and Democrat Mark Gillespie (3,452). Democrat Greg Taylor (1,790) was the other candidate.

Gooden said last week he was considering options. Contacted Monday, he said, “On Wednesday at 1 p.m., Voter Integrity will be at the Board of Elections. That’s about all I can say.”

He said more than likely, a lawsuit would be forthcoming. In a TV interview after last week’s commissioner meeting, he mentioned illegal votes.

The Voter Integrity Project bills itself as nonpartisan. The website took aim at the Bladen County Board of Elections, timing within hours of the Nov. 21 recount between Cogdell and Gooden release of a report labeled “Nearly 400 Unverified Voters Make Bladen’s Recount a Hoax.”

The report claimed revelation of “392 Same-Day-Registration (SDR) voters as not yet verified, meaning they have no idea if the registrations are legitimate or not.” The report only cited Bladen County, when in fact all 100 counties operate with the same rules that include voters being able to register during early voting and then having 30 days to be certified once the board staff mails a verification card to them.

Early voting ended Oct. 31, other absentee by mail votes could be mailed on or before Nov. 3 and counted if received by Nov. 12.

Between 500 and 1,000 verification cards were sent out in early to mid-November, the county elections staff director Chris Williams said. Not all were those that registered during early voting.

Williams said Monday that Voter Integrity Project visited last week and has requested the Wednesday meeting. It is seeking to view the same day registrations; however, that likely won’t happen for about a week while personal information such as birthdays and Social Security numbers are redacted by the staff, Williams said.

The state board on Monday was still awaiting results from three counties of the statewide recount for the state Supreme Court chief justice race between Democratic incumbent Cheri Beasley and Republican challenger Paul Newby. Forsyth, Guilford and Mecklenburg counties were finishing, after which the race would be subject to verification from the board.