Belhaven Elections, Got Ya | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Candidate for mayor, Adam O'Neal, suddenly realized something unusual was going to happen in the Belhaven polling place on election day. A super majority of the Republican poll workers were actively and openly supporting his opponent and the council candidates who opposed having a hospital in the Town of Belhaven. He realized this during the last week of October, only a few days before the election. With less than a week before the election, O'Neal was in a pickle.

    O'Neal filed charges with the Beaufort County Board of Elections in order to have a fair and unbiased voting place. O'Neal believed those working in the polls should at least in eye of the public be neutral and disinterested.

    Poll workers are nominated for appointment by both the Democrat and Republican Parties. Generally, the appointments system works by precinct leaders submitting names to the party chairmen and those names who are approved by the county executive committees are then submitted to the Beaufort County Board of elections. Potential poll workers are then screened for appointment by the Board of Elections using state regulations and past performance as a poll worker.

    In this case the Republican Belhaven Precinct Chairman, Bill Iller, recruited Dianna Lambeth, Karen Fisher and Jimmy Southerland to work the polls. These people were approved by the Republican Party and the Beaufort County Board of Elections.

    Bill Iller came to Belhaven a couple of years ago where he lives on a boat. His brother, Frank Iller, is a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from Brunswick County. During the time we were trying to get the Certificate of need laws changed so we could reopen the hospital in Belhaven, Representative Frank Iller carried on an active campaign against Belhaven's interests. He made derogatory statements about Mayor O'Neal on the floor of the House of Representatives and campaigned against the proposed changes in the law..

    Bill Iller is close friends with Dianna Lambeth who is director of the Belhaven Chamber of Commerce.

    Jimmy Southerland is a business owner in the Town of Belhaven and has actively campaigned against the hospital and Mayor O'Neal.

    Karen Fisher has been a participant in lawsuits against the Town of Belhaven and the Mayor.

    None of these poll workers or Mayor O"Neal's opponent or those who are running for council seats in opposition to the hospital have been able to explain why they are opposed to the hospital. Speculators say opposition could be rooted in race, dislike for conservative Republicans, or their opinion the hospital could fail. The new hospital will be entirely self financed, there will be no liability on the taxpayers of the Town of Belhaven.

    Most of the activist anti hospital crowd are fairly recent arrivals in Belhaven.

    O'Neal initiates his complaint on Thursday October 29th and finally, after three tries, gets it perfected on Friday October 30. There are only three days until the election. As required by law, the Board of Elections sets a hearing date for Friday, October 30 at 6:00 PM. All parties are present for the hearing. In addition, Commissioner Frankie Waters is present and supporting the anti hospital group.

    The Board of Elections Chairman, Jay McRoy officiated. This is a three member board. Other members present were Attorney John Tate and Thomas Payne.

    With lightning speed and a lot of forethought this board settled their business in less than three minutes. First, they asked Mayor O'Neal if he had given three days notice to each of the people he was complaining about. He replied that he was not aware he was supposed to give them notice because the Director of Elections had not advised him of this requirement. Chairman McRoy said "The Director could not give him legal advice". Mayor O'Neal tried to say something else but Chairman McRoy said he could not say anything else. Obviously .this is an impossible requirement because the hearing would have had to take place Monday at 6;00 PM with the election taking place Tuesday. Got ya. A motion was made to not hear the complaint because of the three days notice issue. The vote was unanimous.

    Go to Beaufort Observer.net to see the entire 13 minute video.

    Kellie Hopkins gave no legal advice. She simply followed the statutes in her capacity as Director of Elections. All bureaucrats are expected to direct and assist all persons in complying with the laws rules and regulations. Kellie Hopkins failed to inform Adam O'Neal of all the requirements. There is nothing unusual about, even experts, reworking applications several times. To do otherwise one would need a lawyer to apply for a building permit or even a drivers license.

    The gross error was made when the Board confused "complaint" with "affidavit". The law says if the person complaining and represents himself by affidavit has to serve the defendants with the affidavit thee days before the hearing. There has never been and affidavit. Listen to the video and you will hear Kelllie Hopkins state that she worked with Adam O'Neal so he could personally make his case before the board. Was Adam O'Neal set up?

    At the end of the meeting Chairman of the Board of Elections, Jay McRoy, made a statement designed to deceive the public when he said ballots are not hand marked and it is impossible to alter a ballot. This is a false statement. All ballots are marked by hand. Ballots are counted by machine. Should any person have access to a ballot they can deface it or alter the vote. There are stories of poll workers using small pieces of pencil lead stuck to their fingers to alter and void ballots. This is a scary statement to be made by the Chairman of the Board of Elections. Maybe McRoy should resign if this is all he knows about holding elections.

    What is incredible about confusing a "complaint" with and "affidavit" is board member, John Tate, is a lawyer.

    There are a lot of ways to look at this situation. The most important is fair elections. There is no question that packing the polls with any single minded faction will ultimately lead to corruption. That is the root cause of why we have so many civil rights and other elections laws on the books.

    Even with this split in the Republican Party, the Party should champion fair and unbiased elections. Packing the polls only gives a temporary advantage. The public pays a harsh price (sometimes it takes years) but has always seen the light and cleaned house. In this case Republican Bill Iller, the Belhaven Precinct Chairman, has manipulated this situation to obtain an unfair advantage. The Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee failed to oversee a fair and impartial polling place.

    Two of the three Beaufort County Board of Elections members are Republicans. They are Jay McRoy and John Tate. They were appointed by the Beaufort County Executive Committee with the approval of the State Republican Party and then he State Board of Elections. There is plenty of mud for all to bathe in. The Beaufort County Republican Party failed in protecting it's own. The Board of Elections should want fair and unbiased elections.

    Let us apply a little common sense to what has become an emotional situation. If the hospital can be reopened at no risk to the citizens or the Town of Belhaven, why should these zealots even care? If you were running the Chamber of Commerce or own a business in Belhaven why not open a hospital. More people will come to Belhaven, there will be 55 new jobs, and that helps all business and citizens. It makes the Chamber Director look good too. Who does the new hospital help and who does it hurt. All of these three people fighting against the hospital have business interests in the Town of Belhaven. These people are really good at shooting themselves in their foot - more than once.

    The simple truth about the hospital situation is there is no liability to the Town of Belhaven when the hospital reopens. The Town will not have to repay the $6,000,000 loan. It is secured by the hospital property. The $643,000 loan for eminent domain is owed by the new Hospital not the Town.

    If the hospital is not reopened the Town will loose and estimated $360,000 it has advanced to the hospital to get it restarted. If the hospital opens the town will be repaid either directly or in increased sales taxes, electricity, water and sewer sales.

    It takes a lot of gall to move into any small town, as this group of Republicans has done, and decide that you can make decisions for its future in spite of what the long term residents want. If three or four more boat people were to show up they would try to drive the natives out and set up their own kingdom.