The Forsyth County District Attorney’s office announced today that it will not press charges against an individual who was alleged to have voted twice in the 2010 primary election.
The statement from the office of District Attorney Jim O’Neill does not name the individual, but Forsyth County Elections Director Rob Coffman has confirmed that Virginia Robertson Lee, in fact, did vote twice in the primary. Her second vote was withdrawn after a seasonal worker recognized her, and Coffman said a state computer network flagged the duplicate vote at the end of the day.
The State Board of Elections initially investigated a complaint about the incident, and Gardenia Henley, an unsuccessful candidate for NC House, conducted an independent investigation. Henley obtained signed statements from Lee indicating that Susan Speaks Frye, a candidate for Forsyth County Clerk of Superior Court; Everette Witherspoon, a candidate for Forsyth County Commission; and Jimmie Bonham, a candidate for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board, paid her for her vote, and in the case of Frye and Bonham, enlisted her to vote twice.
The three candidates have denied the allegations. Frye and Witherspoon, both Democrats, won their election contests. Bonham, who ran for a nonpartisan position, did not prevail.
Marshall Tutor, the State Board of Elections’ sole investigator said that despite his efforts he was unable to obtain from Lee any information about individuals attempting to buy votes. And yet Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, told YES! Weekly last month that his agency was already aware of all the information Henley had gathered in the case.
According to today’s announcement, O’Neill requested that the NC State Bureau of Investigation, or SBI “conduct an additional examination to determine if the charge of voter misconduct was an isolated incident or a wider case of voter fraud conspiracy.” The announcement said the SBI completed its investigation and notified the Forsyth County District Attorney’s office this week in writing of its findings and recommendations.
Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the NC Department of Justice, said the agency would decline to release the findings and recommendations. Under state law, records of criminal investigations are not considered public records subject to disclosure.
The District Attorney’s announcement states that “it was determined that this was not a widespread case of voter fraud and that no charges would be forthcoming,” and that the case is now closed.
A call to O'Neill has not been returned at this time.
UPDATE: Bonham gives this reaction: "We knew that anyway. I don’t have any reaction to that. We knew it was garbage anyway."
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