Wade v. Parks update
With Election 2005 nearly upon us, Scoop started thinking about Election 2004. In Guilford County, that means county commissioner Trudy Wade, commissioner hopeful John Parks and provisional ballots.
On June 1, we reported that the State Board of Elections decided to hold a hearing in Greensboro to see if up to 376 local voters cast provisional ballots in the wrong precinct in November, a practice deemed illegal months later by the state Supreme Court.
Those ballots had been challenged by Wade, the Republican incumbent, who trails Parks, her Democratic challenger, by 89 votes. Throwing out more ballots will almost certainly favor Wade, who has retained her seat during the eight-month legal standoff.
But more than a month later, a hearing date has not been set. Gary Bartlett, executive director for the state elections board, told me that it's been difficult for all five board members and the attorneys for the candidates to find time in their schedules to meet in Greensboro.
Board member Chuck Winfree, a Greensboro lawyer, said a few days around July 18 had looked promising, but a conflict developed with those dates. Now, he says he wouldn't bet on seeing a hearing until August.
"We're just waiting," he said earlier today.
Here's the June 1 story, in case you missed it:
RALEIGH - Until now, the nearly seven-month-old legal standoff for at-large Guilford County commissioner has featured the two candidates, their lawyers and various judges and elections officials.
Now, voters will get involved.
The State Board of Elections will hold a hearing in Greensboro to see if up to 376 local voters cast provisional ballots in the incorrect precinct, a practice declared illegal months after the November election. Many or all of those voters could be asked to submit affidavits or deliver testimony before attorneys and the five-member elections board, which will determine if the residents voted in the right precinct or not.
"The basic question in my mind is: where do those folks live?" board Chairman Larry Leake said Tuesday.
The state's decision follows an April recount by the Guilford County elections board, which certified Democrat John Parks as the winner by 89 votes over Republican Trudy Wade. Local elections officials delivered a thick transcript of the six-day proceedings to the state board, but that group challenged the results as incomplete.
"It's very obvious from the attitude of this board - collectively and individually - that it is uncomfortable with the current record," Leake said.
The board unanimously approved the new hearing despite the protests of Parks' lawyer, Larry Moore, who derided Wade for continuing her challenge and failing to prove that certain votes should be thrown out.
"She's ridden this horse a long time, and it's time to move on," Moore said. "And they have not met their burden (of proof), and they should not be rewarded with prolonging this exercise."
At issue is whether voters were in the correct precinct when they cast provisional ballots, handed out on Election Day when workers can't find voters' names on the rolls.
Wade's attorney, Robert Hunter, maintains that many voters should have been given precinct-transfer paperwork instead of provisional ballots, but Moore says there's plenty of evidence to show that the voters lived where they voted.
The hearing will take place after June 15, though an exact date remains unannounced. Also unclear was the exact length of the hearing, which could involve sworn affidavits from some voters and live testimony from others, and whether attorneys will be able to find voters who might have moved from the county after the election.
The road to Tuesday's hearing began in earnest on election night, when Wade led Parks by 74 votes. But then the provisional votes were counted, and Parks sprinted to a 243-vote lead. The ensuing legal battle saw the Supreme Court strike down out-of-precinct provisional balloting as unlawful, and a Superior Court judge ordered the Guilford board to conduct a recount.
Leake blamed the continuation of the lengthy process not on the Guilford board but on the attorneys, saying they simply argued through the recount hearing when they should have been questioning voters.
"The assignment was to do it right," Leake said. He later said, "evidentially, you didn't really do anything."
Both Wade and Parks attended Tuesday's meeting, though the incumbent declined to comment afterward. Wade has kept her seat during the legal challenge and will soon begin work on the county's $460-million budget even though she might be off the board by summer's end.
Parks declared victory after the Guilford recount, but now he'll have to wait several more weeks before he can declare victory again, if at all.
"Six days of testimony already," he said, "on each one of these ballots."
Comments (4)
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Is this a bad interpretation and application, or does Trudy Wade's unwillingness to concede mean that Al Gore and John Kerry should not have conceded?
Many, if not most, of the people supporting Trudy Wade would have been outraged if Al Gore or John Kerry had not admitted defeat as early as they did.
Anyone who supports Trudy Wade's efforts here should be equally willing to support any future political candidate's protest of election outcomes, regardless of the level of government and the party of that candidate.
Posted on July 6, 2005 3:34 PM
Parks would be another Democrat clown that Skip Alston could control.
Posted on July 6, 2005 10:27 PM
Perhaps, taxpayer, but at least Parks was elected, unlike Wade.
Posted on July 6, 2005 11:25 PM
You only win when you play be the rules. Stuffing the ballot box is not winning. Think about if you were the person who lost by ballots you thought were from non-residents.
Posted on July 7, 2005 12:36 AM