Another Bladen election board member – again – cleared of complaint charge

RALEIGH — Like Democrats before, a Republican member of the Bladen County Board of Elections has been cleared of a complaint.

A case against Michael Aycock was dismissed on Tuesday near the back end of a lengthy state Board of Elections meeting. The vote was 3-2, with Democratic Chairman Damon Circosta siding with Republican members Stacy Eggers and Tommy Tucker.

A vote on whether to move the preliminary hearing to a formal hearing, where evidence, witnesses and accounts from the parties involved could be heard, was voted down 3-2.

All members voted the same each time. Democrats Dr. Stella Anderson and Jeff Carmon said they were unsure of wrongdoing by the rules, but they did want to hear more before deciding.

“To Mr. Carmon’s and Dr. Anderson’s points, this is not necessarily a condoning of the actions,” Eggers said. “Simply, this doesn’t rise to an actionable case that leads to a hearing.”

Tucker was more emphatically against the complaint.

“We are doing the billboard sign police, now we’re doing the speak police,” Tucker said. He added, “I don’t know how far we’re going to dig into people’s liberties to speak to whoever whenever until we find something criminal. It needs to be dismissed.”

The complaint was filed by the Rev. Larry Hayes, chairman of the Bladen County Democratic Party and the pastor at Good News Baptist Church in Bladenboro. In it, he took issue with Aycock going to a polling site during the early voting period for extended amounts of time, on multiple days, and talking to people while there. The state board received the complaint Oct. 27.

Eggers pointed out the complaint included none of what Aycock was saying to others, just his presence supported by pictures.

“I believe that there’s enough to see what was actually said while sitting under the tent,” Carmon said. “I have no objection to a board member attending a function for their party. The action of that board member is what I am concerned with.”

And Anderson added, “This is not a one-off deal, according to the complaint. This was a repeated choice that Mr. Aycock made day after day after day, apparently for significant amounts of time, to be outside of the one-stop site chatting it up with others. So, I want to hear more.”

Between the vote to reject a formal hearing and the vote to dismiss entirely, Anderson said county board members are repeatedly being brought before the state board about choices, behavior, or violations of rules and duties.

“I don’t know what it is we need to do as a board to reenforce the idea from the moment you’re appointed, to serve on the board, you become a public servant,” she said. “And you have to be mindful of how you’re going to be perceived, and the choices you’re going to make are going to be perceived as problematic. And that would be regardless of what your intent was, or your exact behavior resulted in or not.

“Somehow, we’re not succeeding in impressing upon folks that they have to accept responsibility. When they’re not mindful of that, they leave themselves open to these very complaints or charges. Again, this is a tough call. A one-off conversation standing around talking with folks is one thing, but what you’re doing outside of a polling place repeatedly is another thing. We have to have board members exercising better judgment to their actions.”

The complaint against Aycock means that, while this five-member board has been together since July 24, 2019, only Democrat Deborah Belle and Republican Emery White have not been brought before the state board on complaint charges.

Chairwoman Louella Thompson and member Patsy Sheppard, both Democrats, each have had three complaints against them dismissed. Those complaints were filed by White Lake’s Wayne Schaeffer, White Oak’s Jane Pait and Elizabethtown’s Charlotte Smith.

On Oct. 18, 2019, Schaeffer’s complaint didn’t get past a preliminary hearing in a 3-2 vote along party lines. Two months later on Dec. 20, Pait’s complaint did get to a formal hearing but was dismissed 4-1. Smith’s complaint was dismissed Feb. 14, 2020 at the preliminary stage 3-2 along party lines.

The Democrats on the state board remain the same; Tuesday was the first time a Bladen County member had been judged by Eggers and Tucker.

Schaeffer is, and was at the time, chairman of the county’s Republican Party. Pait is also a Republican and Smith is unaffiliated.