Board of Elections votes for evidentiary hearing in Morehead Mayor election protest

BEAUFORT — The Carteret County Board of Elections voted unanimously Monday to advance an election protest filed by Morehead City Mayor Jerry Jones on to the next step, an evidentiary hearing.

A preliminary hearing was held Monday morning to address the protest filed by Jones challenging the results of the November 4 Morehead City Mayor’s race between the incumbent Jones and Morehead City Councilmen Lee Stiles. After the Board of Elections met last week to review provisional and supplemental absentee ballots, Stiles held on to a one vote lead, 762-761. The result was confirmed at the Board’s November 14 canvass meeting.

Monday’s preliminary hearing was held to determine whether Jones’ protest substantially complies with North Carolina general statutes and whether it establishes “probable cause to believe that an outcome-determinative violation of election law or irregularity or misconduct could have occurred” that impacted the outcome of the election.

County Attorney Sharon Griffin defined the probable cause standard used by the Board as the “practical, non-technical probability that an election irregularity or misconduct affecting the outcome has occurred.”



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