Republican Men s Club met Thursday night at the James Clinton Center in Chocowinity, North Carolina. After a delicious and plentiful seafood buffet, the 40 members in attendance were entertained as well as informed by the always mercurial Beaufort County Board of Elections Chief Kelly Hopkins. It appears that Beaufort County s Board of Elections Chief Executive Officer is just as concerned about this aberration as the republicans in attendance. Each year the Beaufort County Board of Elections receives from the state a list of all voters that have died in the last year, but in order purge the list verification is still necessary.
Verification can be as simple as a handwritten letter from a near relative.
Second, we are updating our technology which will aid us in cleaning up these lists. Third, since this is a census year, we have to prepare for the redistricting by the North Carolina General Assembly and what new problems it will bring. Consequently, the dead voter predicament raised its ugly head recently under Ms. Hopkins watch gaining national attention. The Dead Voter Incident in Beaufort County was of late a segment in the Dumb Crook News, a weekly series on the nationally syndicated radio show, The Big Show, hosted by John Boy and Billy. According to Ms. Hopkins, it appeared that Shelbert Ore, a Beaufort County resident and Democrat, was caught voting twice.