Hearing on candidate’s residency is next step for unresolved NC sheriff’s race

The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted Thursday to allow a hearing on whether a candidate for Columbus County sheriff lives in the county as state law requires.

The residency of the Republican candidate, Jody Greene, is one of several issues raised by voters in the hotly contested race that has been unresolved since November. Greene led Lewis Hatcher, the incumbent sheriff, by fewer than 40 votes on Election Day, according to the unofficial tally.

The Columbus County Board of Elections heard testimony Nov. 30 on some alleged irregularities, but the board did not permit discussion on where Greene lived.

That question was raised by Gloria Smith, a Democratic Party official, in an amendment to her initial submission, which focused on problems at polling places.

Smith failed to properly indicate in the paperwork that she was a registered voter of Columbus County, and her protest was dismissed.

Smith appealed to the state board, and on Thursday, the board unanimously found that the Columbus County board erred in denying her a hearing.

Authorizing a review of Greene’s residency was more contentious. The 3-2 vote split along party lines, with GOP members opposed.

The board voted to send the residency question back to Columbus County despite some concerns about whether local officials would be able to manage the expected crowds and ensure a fair hearing.

Earlier hearings in Columbus County have been raucous, and the candidates’ supporters tend to divide along racial lines. Hatcher, the Democratic incumbent, is African-American. Greene, who was sworn into office despite pending elections protests, is white.

“We have great concerns that we’re just not going to get a fair shake down there,” Philip Isley, an attorney for Greene, told the board.

Isley pointed out that a Wake County judge who heard a separate but related case about whether Greene or Hatcher was sheriff decided that the case could be more fairly heard in Pender County. That case was resolved with a February settlement agreement that put neither man in charge of the day-to-day operation of the sheriff’s department until the question of who won the election is finally resolved.

The state elections board committed Thursday to sending some of its legal and investigative staff to Columbus County to try to ensure an orderly hearing.

The county board has until April 5 to send its decision back to the state board, and then the state board will consider the county’s findings in the context of another protest related to the sheriff’s race. That protest, from Brunswick Mayor Nancy Hill, was already heard at the county level.

Despite Thursday’s votes, Hill and Smith have been put on notice that there are limits to the scope of the allegations they can introduce. In an order Wednesday, the state board’s chairman denied requests from the women’s attorneys to compel documents and testimony. He found the requests unrelated to issues previously raised and, therefore, not allowed.

The order noted that the board had already promised to make its investigators available to testify about their findings related to McCrae Dowless, a Bladen County political operative who worked for Greene in addition to the congressional candidate in District 9, Mark Harris. The board recently found the District 9 results tainted and ordered a new election.

The chairman also struck from the record several documents submitted by Hill and Smith’s attorneys, finding that they were confidential and protected by a judge’s order in the earlier lawsuit.

This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 8:07 PM.