Columbus County: Some voters turned away for lack of ballots

COLUMBUS COUNTY – From The News Reporter:

The South Williams precinct was without ballots for some voters for about an hour Tuesday morning, according to Columbus County Board of Elections Director Carla Strickland. She said the precinct didn’t have ballots for people who vote at the Tabor City Courthouse poll but who live outside the town limits.

Campaigners working outside the polls said the precinct was without ballots for voters who live in the Tabor City town limits.

Roy Yarbrough, who was campaigning outside the polls for Rep. Brenden Jones, said the precinct ran out of the ballots around 7:30 a.m. and didn’t get any more until about 8:30 a.m.

“I’d say out of the 50 or so who had voted at that time, probably 20 of them got turned away,” Yarbrough said. He said he saw some of the voters return after more ballots arrived.

Voter James Hill said he arrived at 8 a.m. and was told the precinct was out of ballots. He waited 30 minutes for more ballots to arrive so he could cast his vote.

”It made me feel like my vote wasn’t even important,” Hill said. “It made me feel like they didn’t even want us to vote.”

Strickland said at 9:30 a.m. the Board of Elections was preparing to hold an emergency meeting to extend the hours at the South Williams precinct. She said she would share the extended hours with The News Reporter following the meeting.