GREENSBORO — The Guilford County Board of Elections unanimously voted Tuesday to dismiss an election protest filed by County Commissioner Bruce Davis after his loss to Laura Fjeld in the 6th Congressional District Democratic primary.
Board member Don Wendelken moved to dismiss the protest based on a lack of probable cause that election irregularities occurred.
Davis said he was strongly considering filing an appeal to the state Board of Elections.
“I did not get a fair hearing,” Davis said. “When one of the board members says right out of the gate that they don’t see any probable cause, you’re dead on arrival.”
Davis filed the petition shortly before the board was scheduled to meet at 10:45 to canvass the election results. When the board took up the matter, Wendelken said he saw no probable cause, based on the report that had just been given by elections director Charlie Collicutt on the security measures, chain of command and lack of problems reported in the primary.
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The board discussed the petition in detail, and allowed Davis to address the board directly to state his case.
“I have no reason to believe that there were any voting irregularities once those votes reached the county,” Davis said. “My protest is all around the machines.”
Davis said the machines had been a source of problems in the county for years, but offered no hard evidence to back that up. He also noted that three precincts recorded no votes at all for either 6th District candidate.
Colllicut explained that those precincts had small pieces of territory, but no actual voters in District 6.
The board questioned whether Davis was calling election results in all of the races into question, and he said no.
“So you’re saying that the voting machines just produced errors in the 6th District race?” asked board chair Kathryn Lindley.
“Yes,” Davis replied. “That’s the only one I’ve had a chance to examine.”
Davis said he couldn't believe he lost the election to Fjeld by such a large margin.
"The discrepancy of votes, when she came into the election with no name recognition, and put little effort into canvassing, putting out signs, the things you do in every election," Davis said. "It's hard to believe."
If he wants to pursue the protest, Davis must file an appeal within 24 hours.
