
By Tim Gardner
Results from last fall’s Avery County Municipal Election in the Town of Newland changed following a voting canvass by the local Board of Elections and dropped one of the winners for the three available seats on the non-partisan town council (alderman) from securing a four-year term to a two-year term, while pushing another from a two-year to a four-year term.
An official voting canvass is conducted in each county and for every election in the State of North Carolina to: 1) Certify the voting equipment correctly counted votes cast for all offices and on all measures; 2) Verify the accuracy and validity of all votes cast; 3) Submit the final official returns to the State Board of Elections.
During that November 7, 2023 Town of Newland election, the top two vote-getters earned four-year terms, while the third-place finisher gets a two-year term
Incumbent Christian (Christie) Hughes got the most votes with 83 to be re-elected. When total election results were originally tabulated, she received 80 votes.
Gail Haller originally received 56 votes to finish third. But she gained three additional votes in the canvass to finish with 59 votes. Kenan Foxx originally got 57 votes. He gained one additional vote in the canvass to finish with 58. But because Haller picked up three additional votes, she overtook Foxx for second place to earn the other four-year term. Foxx will serve a two-year, instead of a four-year, term.
He is the grandson of United States Fifth District Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, who will no longer represent any parts of Avery County if she is re-elected to another congressional term this year as the county has been moved to the Eleventh Congressional District.
Dave Calvert got 35 votes to finish fourth in the town council race, and Nancy Davis received 30 to finish fifth.
Thee canvass also resulted in one additional write-in vote bringing the total number of write-in votes from 17 to 18.
Avery County Board of Elections Deputy Director Joseph Trivette told High Country Press that the voting total changes were a result of provisional ballots.
In elections in the United States, including municipal ones, a provisional ballot (also called an affidavit ballot) is used to record a vote when there are questions about a given voter’s eligibility that must be resolved before the vote can count.
The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 guarantees that, in most states, a voter can cast a provisional ballot in any election, if the voter proves that he or she is entitled to vote.
Some of the most common reasons to cast a provisional ballot include:
*The voter’s name does not appear on the electoral roll for the given precinct (polling place), because the voter is not registered to vote or is registered to vote elsewhere.
*The voter’s eligibility cannot be established or has been challenged.
*The voter lacks a photo identification document (in jurisdictions that require one).
*The voter requested to vote by absentee ballot, but claims to have not received, or not cast, the absentee ballot.
*The voter’s registration contains inaccurate or outdated information such as the wrong address or a misspelled name.
*In a closed primary (limited to members of a political party), the voter’s party registration is listed incorrectly.
Whether a provisional ballot is counted is contingent upon the verification of that voter’s eligibility, which may involve local election officials reviewing government records or asking the voter for more information, such proof of residence. Each state may set its own timing rules for when these issues must be resolved. Provisional ballots therefore cannot usually be counted until at least one day after the election. If election officials determine that a person who cast a provisional ballot was in fact eligible to vote in a particular election, his or her provisional ballot is counted just like a normal one.
There are no limits to how many voters can cast a provisional ballot.
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