DATE: Wednesday, May 14, 1997               TAG: 9705140517

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   58 lines

DARE COUNTY ELECTION PANEL REPRIMANDS 3 WHO BROKE LAW

Three Dare County voters have been reprimanded by the Dare County Board of Elections for illegally registering an individual for the May 20 school bond referendum.

All three say their actions were unintentionally wrong and without malice.

The three-member panel, which oversees elections in the county, will take no further action in connection with the incident, contending it would not have a significant impact on the election.

Board members said they planned to place announcements of their actions in two local newspapers, concerning the irregularities, but would do so after the May 20 vote.

The three individuals named in board correspondence on May 6 are Nancy Gray of Wanchese and Angela Horne and Cara Jill Tillett of Manteo.

Two Dare County residents say the illegal registration, and the board's decision to withhold making the issue public, contaminates the electoral process.

Mary Ames of Kill Devil Hills said that withholding the information until after the election violates the First Amendment right of free press, and was critical of the board for not taking firmer action in the wake of the violation.

Robin Morgan of Southern Shores also said the board's reprimand was not enough.

``This is not about nay or yea,'' Morgan said Tuesday. ``This is about the process. When the board suppresses the action, they are as bad as the people committing the act.''

But board members said they decided to wait until after May 20 to avoid prejudicing the controversial bond referendum.

``We agreed that the article not be published until after the election so that it would not happen in the future,'' Board Member John Z. Macomber said.

Fellow Board Member Lois Miller agreed, saying, ``We have no way of knowing how those people were going to vote.''

When the incident was raised at a regular meeting Tuesday, the board released minutes and letters of reprimand.

The three individuals involved appeared before the board at its May 6 meeting, and contended that their actions constituted an honest mistake, and no malice was intended.

Gray obtained a voter registration form for her daughter and filled it out, since the daughter was away at college, they told the board. Tillett, a friend of Gray's daughter, thought she had lost the form that the daughter had originally filled out and filled out the form for her. Records indicate the daughter played no role in the incident.

Horne was passing out registration forms, and knew the form was filled out for Gray's daughter, in violation of the general statute.

Throughout the bond campaign, voters on both sides have actively registered individuals to vote.

Under North Carolina law, it is considered a felony for any person to qualify another individual fraudulently as a voter.

Board of Elections Chairman Carlisle Davis said if further actions of this type occur, the matter will be turned over to the District Attorney for possible prosecution.

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