LAURINBURG — The Scotland County Board of Elections officially has its fifth board member and will resume its monthly meetings in March.
Gov. Roy Cooper recently appointed Dr. William Purcell as the board chairman for Scotland County. Purcell joined the board in April 2018 when it went from three members to four.
He will be joining returning members Hal Culberson, Diana Johnston and William Bullard, along with new member Harriet Jackson.
The board will hold its first meeting of the year on March 4 at 4 p.m. in the Scotland County Board of Elections Office. The meetings are open to the public.
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District 9 election
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The State Board of Elections ruled Thursday that there will be a new election in the North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District following the hearing of electoral misconduct.
It is believed that an operative of Republican Mark Harris, who won the race by fewer than 1,000 votes, had coordinated a scheme to unlawfully collect, falsely witness, and otherwise tamper with absentee ballots.
The board action came after Harris, in a surprising turn, dropped his bid to be declared the winner and instead called for a new election. He reversed course on the fourth day of a board hearing at which investigators and witnesses detailed evidence of ballot fraud by operatives on his payroll.
“Through the testimony I’ve listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called,” Harris said. “It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.”
The new election will begin with a primary election to determine the Democratic and Republican candidates, though dates for the new election have not been chosen.
The decision could leave the congressional seat empty for months, perhaps until the fall, board attorney Josh Lawson said. New primaries will be held in addition to a new general election, with the dates set by the elections board.
According to Scotland County Board of Elections Assistant Chassidy Brewer, the local board hasn’t heard anything from the state but she said they will do their best to make sure everything runs smoothly for local voters.
Along with the new election, there is also going to be a cost, though how it will be paid for is also up in the air.
“We don’t know if the state will take the cost or if the taxpayers will have to pay it,” Brewer said. “We don’t really know too much right now from the state.”
Katelin Gandee can be reached at 910-506-3171 or kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
