Social media causes controversial start to one-stop voting

LUMBERTON — An investigation is underway after a Facebook page presenting itself as the Robeson County Board of Elections posted a cover photo with the words “re-elect John Cantey.”

The post comes at the start of one-stop early voting which began Thursday and will run through May 14. John Cantey is running for re-election to his Lumberton City Council seat, in which he represents Precinct 5 residents.

Robeson County Board of Elections Director Tina Bledsoe told The Robesonian that the page is not maintained by the RCBOE. The Board of Elections does not have its own Facebook page, and its information is posted on the Robeson County Administration/Government page by the county public information officer.

“We have addressed it and I want the public to know that it’s not coming from the Board of Elections Office,” she said.

Bledsoe said she has sent the information to the county public information officer for further review and action.

“We didn’t set that page up,” said Emily Jones, Robeson County’s Public Information officer. “This is not an official Facebook page.”

Jones told The Robesonian she is investigating the matter and that the post was made on Wednesday. Jones said she will report the page to Facebook and request that it be taken down.

The page also listed the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office’s website on the site.

John Cantey told The Robesonian he didn’t have anything to do with it.

“All I posted is my location at the Board of Elections,” he said.

His Facebook post includes photos that appeared on the page after he tagged it, stating that he was at the Robeson County Board of Elections. One photo of his campaign sign was used as a cover photo on the page.

Cantey said he has been in office for 17 years and involved in the elections process for more than 22 years.

“It’s a first for me,” he said.

Cantey said he believes someone used the photo “just to cause my campaign issues.”

The Robesonian has reached out to Rhandi Cooper and Darryl Genus who also are running for the Precinct 5 seat.d Messages from Genus were not immediately returned.

Cooper said she wasn’t aware of the page until this morning when she was searching to see if the RCBOE had a Facebook page.

“It benefits me none by making it seem that Cantey is not only backed by the County and also linked to the Sheriffs Dept in some way. Things like this actually hurt my campaign unfairly swaying the voters against me,” Cooper told The Robesonian in a written statement.

One-stop early voting has gotten off to a slow start, according to Bledsoe. The early voting period for the 2022 statewide began Thursday and ends at 3 p.m. May 14.

“In the May 17 primary election, voters will select nominees for a political party to move on to the Nov. 8 general election,” according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

As of 4 p.m., 175 voters had cast their ballots at the Lumberton voting site, 22 at Red Springs, 17 at Fairmont, 26 in Pembroke, 16 in Maxton and 41 in St. Pauls, according to an elections official.

Bledsoe encourages voters to exercise their right to vote.

“They need to come on out and cast em a ballot,” she said.

Polling sites

The Pine Street Gym polling site, located at 801 N. Pine St. in Lumberton, will operate from 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. on weekdays from April 28-May 13 and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 14.

The following polling sites will be in operation from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays from April 28-May 13 and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 14:

• Fairmont Fire Hall/ Senior Citizen Center, 421 S. Main St. in Fairmont

• Gilbert Patterson Library, 210 N Florence St. in Maxton

• Pembroke Library, 413 Blaine Street in Pembroke

• Red Springs Community Center, 122 Cross St. in Red Springs

• St. Pauls National Guard Armory, 705 N. Old Stage Road in St. Pauls