The Wake County Board of Elections is counting three ballots from voters who died before Election Day

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) — The Wake County Board of Elections met Friday to certify its resultsit has gone through 70 different challenges of cast ballots. Forty-five of those disputed ballots involved dead voters, specifically individuals who had cast ballots but died before Election Day.

In response, testimony was provided by family members of two of the individuals, and in a third case by board member Greg Flynn, in support of counting the ballots.

“Please don’t rob a public servant, a 78-year-old veteran, of one of his last acts when he was so proud of it,” one man’s daughter explained.

In emotional remarks, she implored the board to leave the vote unchanged.

“He voted legally with his ID within the specified period. There is no reason why his vote should not count,” the woman said.

Ultimately, the board voted to count all three votes in which testimony was given, while voting against counting 42 ballots from dead voters in which no testimony was given.

“It’s proof that they voted, that that was their ballot, and that the law, which is designed to prevent other people from voting on a dead person’s ballot, is outdated,” Flynn said, explaining why he had personally voted to count the three. ballots, but not the other 42.

Board member Keith Weatherly objected to counting the ballots.

“I said we must obey the law and the law as it stands now. That has not been refuted by any legal source that I know of, that we have no discretion in this matter. If the person votes and then dies before Election Day, we are required to remove them, remove that ballot,” Weatherly said.

A 2022 memo from the State Board of Elections addressed the issue: “As a reminder, qualifications for all voters, including early and absentee voters, are assessed beginning on Election Day. GS 163-55, -59.” It is understood that a spokesperson for the State Board of Elections has confirmed that, according to the memo, “a voter who dies after casting his ballot and before Election Day is ineligible to vote in that election.”

“How do you determine which laws you’re going to follow and which laws you’re not going to follow (or) break, that’s a slippery slope,” Weatherly said.

“They could vote legally. These are not people included in our crime register. These are not people who appeared as non-citizens. These are people who did everything we asked of them, and they completed their challenge. And the only thing they did wrong was they died,” said Erica Porter, chairwoman of the Wake County Board of Elections.

Porter acknowledged that the decision to allow the three votes could open the Board of Elections to litigation, while emphasizing her desire for the state Legislature to address the issue.

“It’s something I’m passionate about, and I’ll be there all the way if needed,” Porter said.

Board member Gerry Cohen, widely considered an expert on North Carolina election law, said an earlier legislative effort to address the issue made progress in the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate.

“One way to change the law, I think, is to make some noise about it,” Cohen said.

ABC11 reached out to the State Board of Elections to confirm what, if any, action could be taken to challenge the county board’s decision. There has been no response at this time.

Other challenges to the ballots included twelve cases of a person with a felony conviction, two non-citizens casting ballots, and eleven cases in various categories who had already voted.