Convicted felons charged with illegally voting in Hoke

Treqwon Covington, Lanisha Bratcher, Richard Daniels Jr. and Tullous Burrow all face a felony charge of voter fraud.

All were on probation or parole in 2016 for felony convictions, which in North Carolina and many other states disqualifies a person from voting. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison.

"It's not about breaking the law. It's about being victimized by the law for doing something you had no knowledge about, in fact, was even encouraged to do," Bratcher posted on social media.

She and others said they thought their criminal records were cleared and had no idea they were not eligible to vote in 2016. They also noted they were encouraged to cast their votes that fall by various get-out-the-vote efforts.

Alamance County residents arrested, jailed and charged with a felony. For voting

Hoke County Elections Director Towanna Jackson said it took almost two years to file the charges because officials have to crosscheck the records of every voter with criminal records.

"We get a report from the state, and when we get that report, it lets us know that they are either serving a felony, a probation or some type of conviction," Jackson said.

Voters affirm they haven't been convicted of a felony when they register to vote.

"Most of [those charged] voted during our early voting period time, and we had to scan through every affidavit form to find whether or not, if they did it," Jackson said.

Only the voters themselves know of their criminal records on Election Day at the polls, she said.

"We can search it out, but no, there is nothing out there in the polling places at that time that they can tell it," she said.

Like Bratcher, many said they didn't know they weren't allowed to vote. Jackson said defense attorneys and probation officers should be providing convicted felons information about how and when they can get their right to vote restored.

"Once everything is completed – once their probation is completed, once their sentence is completed – then they're eligible to come back and reregister because, most of the time, they are taken off of the rolls to vote," she said.