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A few showers early with clear skies overnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.

Voting at the Senior Enrichment Center in Pinehurst in 2018. 

Voting at the Senior Enrichment Center in Pinehurst in 2018. 

Whether you’ve never really thought about what happens after you cast your ballot on Election Day, or you worry more about it every year, the Trusted Elections Tour wants to share some information with you when it stops in Southern Pines this week.

The town hall-style presentation will cover how elections are run by local boards, the cybersecurity concerns and safeguards related to electronic voting machines and legal issues surrounding elections in a 90-minute town hall on Tuesday at Sandhills Community College.

The event is one in a series that the North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe and Secure Elections is organizing in each of the state’s 14 congressional districts. The events are presented in partnership with the League of Women Voters and the U.S. Veterans Hall of Fame to provide information on the electoral process.

The network is a bipartisan effort initiated by The Carter Center. Led by former Democratic Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and former Republican N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, the network is made up of civic, business and religious leaders from both sides of the political aisle.

“It’s open to everyone. What we have found is that we get a combination of folks. We get skeptics at every one and we certainly hope they come,” said Roberts. “We have people who just moved here recently from out of state and don’t know how it works here and just want to hear. Then, people come because they have heard rumors about election integrity and want to hear from people who are actually working on it.”

Speakers slated for the Southern Pines event include:

* Paul Cox, an attorney for the State Board of Elections;

* Linda Devore, a Republican member of the Cumberland County Board of Elections;

* Irene Grimes, a Democratic member of the Cumberland County Board of Elections;

* Parker Holland, an elections administrator at the State Board of Elections; and

* Seth Morris, an education law attorney.

They will address everything from how provisional and absentee ballots are verified to the legal proceedings surrounding challenges, recounts and fraud allegations.

Elections administration varies widely from state to state — and it’s a system that few interact with beyond filling out their ballot. In North Carolina, all voters use paper ballots. Per state law, electronic voting equipment such as scan tabulators cannot be connected to the internet.

Counties have their own processes too. This past week, the Moore County Board of commissioners heard about election security efforts from Elections Director Towanna Dixon.

Dixon said the county follows all State Board of Elections security recommendations and that election staff are required to take information security training classes. The tabulation machines are also tested for accuracy prior to use, and bipartisan trained officials from the local community work together to ensure election security.

Commissioner Nick Picerno asked if county tallies from tabulated paper ballots are compared to state and national machine counts.

Dixon said that ballots are counted in a “three-way audit.” Following each election, the local board of elections conducts a hand-count of two randomly selected precincts to ensure accuracy.

Roberts said the local, bipartisan nature of election administration in North Carolina should inspire confidence that the results genuinely reflect the will of the state’s voters.

“When people see things on the internet or the national news, they conflate it with what’s going on here. Every state has its own way of doing it,” she said. “Our elections are bipartisan the whole way through. There are Republicans and Democrats in each county on each board adjudicating questions and issues. It is done that way on purpose to be balanced and fair.”

The tour aims to share specific information about how elections are run in North Carolina, address common security concerns and encourage residents to get involved in their local election administration.

“I think it’s great that people are aware. Transparency is a great thing in government. We should know how our elections workers are doing their jobs,” said Roberts. “Because people are watching and we have observers, things get corrected. We get better results when more people participate. When more people vote, more people have input, that’s what makes democracy work.”

North Carolina is one of several states where The Carter Center, a not-for-profit organization founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, is working ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

The Trusted Elections Tour’s Southern Pines town hall will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Owns Auditorium at Sandhills Community College. There is no cost to attend. Optional registration is open at nctrustedelections.com.

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