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Supplemental ballots in Harnett Count

A computer glitch left the lone candidate for district attorney off ballots in Harnett County.

Posted Updated

By
Mark Binker
RALEIGH, N.C. — A computer glitch left the local district attorney's race off mail-in ballots in Harnett County, Election Director Ted Halstead told @nccapitol this afternoon.

Vernon Stewart, a Democrat, has already been appointed to prosecutorial District 11A, which the General Assembly created in 2009 to cover Lee and Harnett Counties. He's running unopposed this November. 

The computer system used to make up ballots didn't have the new district in the system, according to Halstead. 

"What usually would save us in that case is institutional memory," Halstead said. But there's never been an election in the district before. "We and the state board simply missed it."

Halstead said Lee County didn't have the same issue. 

There are roughly 67,000 voters in Harnett County. About 1,000 of those chose to vote by mail before the mistake was discovered, he said. Those voters either got a new ballot, if they hadn't mailed back their original, or a supplemental ballot, if they had already mailed in their original ballot. 

 

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