By Josh Bergeron

josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

A poll worker error at a China Grove voting site led to a widely shared Facebook post about voter fraud, according to the Rowan County Board of Elections.

Amanda Eller, who formerly worked as China Grove’s town clerk, said she went to vote last week and discovered someone had already voted in her name. In a Facebook post on Monday, Eller said she went through an extensive process to cancel the prior vote so she could cast ballot herself. She said the incident is proof voter ID should be required.

Her post received dozens of shares, more than 100 likes and a few dozen comments.

“There’s no way that if this person had to show an ID, that she would have been able to vote using my information,” Eller said in the post. “I am sure it was just a mistake (I’ll give the benefit of the doubt). But now, her vote was cancelled and they’ll have to track her down to re-vote (or charge her with a Felony!!).”

When asked about the incident, Rowan County Elections Specialist Laura Russell said Eller’s experience was not a result of voter fraud. Someone did not vote by using Eller’s name, Russell said.

If someone had attempted to commit voter fraud, Russell said, a signed application document would exist from the prior vote. Russell said that signed document did not exist.

“When Amanda showed up in China Grove, it looked like someone else had voted in her name, but voter fraud did not occur,” Russell said.

She said a poll worker’s error came as a result of another person who had the last name Eller. Amanda Eller’s name was accidentally selected by the poll worker.

During the general election, Russell said poll workers would use a different computer system to record votes. She expressed confidence that another error wouldn’t happen on Election Day — Nov. 8. Russell said no voter fraud incidents have been reported in Rowan County.

Ray Cooper for governor

Oops.

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at a rally last week encouraged voters to cast ballots for Ray Cooper in the gubernatorial race. There’s one problem. There isn’t a Ray Cooper running for North Carolina governor. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s name is Roy Cooper.

During a rally at Pitt Community College — in eastern North Carolina — she asked the crowd: “are you ready to elect Ray Cooper your governor?”

The Cooper campaign has frequently used the phrase “#ReadyforRoy.” Seizing on the oops moment, Governor Pat McCrory’s re-election campaign switched a letter to make the phrase “#ReadyforRay.”

GOP 13th District candidate seizes on Davis’ tax lien problems

First the N.C. Republican Party attacked the Democratic 13th District candidate for tax lien problems. Now, the Republican 13th District candidate has seized on the issue too.

Republican Ted Budd included tax lien questions in one of his latest advertisements. The advertisement starts by saying Bruce Davis, the Democratic candidate, is the worst kind of career politician. Continuing, the ad then says Davis raised taxes while failing to pay his taxes. The increase in taxes occurred when Davis was serving as a Guilford County commissioner.

Contrasting Budd with Davis, the ad then says Budd is a small-business owner who knows how taxes kill jobs.

When previously asked about the tax liens, Davis would only say that he’s on time with all of his tax lien payments.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.