LUMBERTON — Four people were selected Thursday by the State Board of Elections to serve on the Robeson County, leaving a fifth member, who will be the chairperson, to be named.
Chosen for the county board during the newly constituted state board’s inaugural meeting were Democrats Larry Townsend and Karen D. Nance, and Republicans Stephen Stone and Olivia Oxendine. Townsend and Stone were members of the county board that was dissolved in late December, along with all other county boards and the state board, after a court ruled the existing nine-member state board was unconstitutional. The local Republican Party had also forwarded the name of Randy Hammonds, a former highway patrolman who once ran for sheriff.
The state board appointments are contingent on the board’s staff researching them and verifying no conflicts or other issues exist that could disqualify them.
Gov. Roy Cooper will pick the fifth member for all the county boards, said Patrick Gannon, state board spokesman. It is unclear when Cooper will make his selections.
But given that local boards are to reflect the new state board’s makeup, Democrats will hold three out of the five seats. If Cooper is to select from the nominated Democrats, the fifth seat on the Robeson County board, and the chairmanship, will go to the third person nominated by local Democrats: Tiffany Peguise-Powers, who also served on the previous county board.
When asked Thursday evening, Stone said he did not now he had been picked.
“Was not aware of it,” he said. “Wasn’t expecting it.”
But he is grateful.
“I appreciate the state board’s confidence in selecting me and the county party for nominating me,” Stone said.
He does know the new county board has a lot of work ahead of it.
“It’s going to have to hit the ground running,” Stone said.
The chairman must schedule a swearing-in ceremony and an organizational meeting, he said. Afterward the board members must get ready to deal with the uncertified races.
The old state board did not certify the race for Seat 2 of District Court 16B in Robeson County. Vanessa Burton, a Democrat, was shown to have beaten Jack Moody, a Republican, after absentee and provisional ballots were counted. The final total was 15,382 votes for Burton to Moody’s 15,315.
The U.S. House N.C. District 9 race also remains uncertified. The contest between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready was left in limbo by the state Elections Board when allegations of absentee ballot irregularities arose shortly after the Nov. 6 general election. The political race has been the subject of an investigation by the state board’s staff since then. Unofficial results show Harris leads McCready by 905 votes.
The congressional race will be the subject of a public evidentiary hearing on Feb. 18. in Raleigh. State Board of Elections Chairman Bob Cordle said the board will vote at the hearing’s close whether to certify the 9th District results, order a new election or do something else.
The hearing will take place at the North Carolina State Bar, located at 217 E. Edenton St. The hearing may take multiple days.
If a new District 9 election is ordered, the Robeson County board must prepare for it, Stone said.
The county board also must certify the results of the Lumberton City Council election that took place Jan. 29, he said.
Unofficial results showed John Carroll received 84 votes in his uncontested bid to win the Precinct 3 seat, and Eric Chavis, the lone candidate for the Precinct 7 seat, garnered 87. Neither man can take his seat on the council until the election results are certified.
The county board also must hire a new director, Stone said. Tina Bledsoe has been serving as interim director since former Director G.L. Pridgen retired in August.
Robeson County was one of 75 counties to have people named Thursday to local elections boards.
“The state board didn’t appoint members for 24 counties because staff hadn’t received nominees from either the Republican Party or Democratic Party,” Patrick Gannon said. “Appointments for Bladen County were tabled until after the evidentiary hearing in the 9th Congressional District.”
