An accusation of voter fraud involving the residents of a state home for the developmentally disabled in Kinston making the rounds on right-leaning e-mail listservs in North Carolina is completely untrue, say state mental health officials, the local elections director and Lenoir County Republicans.

"Bus loads of mentally retarded and severely handicapped patients from a state funded facility called The Caswell Center were being transported to the voting location and that their black Democratic state employee aids were voting for them," said the e-mail, signed by Lester Jarman, a Kinston insurance agent. "They claimed they were assisting; but, how can institutionalized mentally retarded patients know how to vote much less make a reasonable logical decision? Most of them cannot read or write and many of them are also blind. This must be illegal!"

The e-mail also alleged that "Democratic supporters" were passing out shots of liquor to voters in the parking lot of the early voting site, Michael Biesecker reports.

Neither accusation is true, according to Lenoir County Board of Elections Director Dana King.

B.J. Murphy, the vice-chair of the Lenoir County Republican Party, has sent out an e-mail attempting to dispel the rumors about the Caswell Center. Jarman has also sent out an e-mail backing off his original accusations.

Neither of those messages appears to have had as wide a distribution as the original, however.

More after the jump.

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As a second-term state representative, Beverly Perdue sponsored 10 successful bills.

During the 1989-90 session, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate sponsored bills that added a local government employee to the State Personnel Commission, created a central clearinghouse for information on preserving state historic properties and established an advisory committee on home and community care.

She also sponsored a successful bill declaring that drug- and alcohol-addicted children are not considered "children with special needs," but the state should secure an "appropriate education" for them.

She was not as successful in 11 bills that would have directed funds.

Bills to support education foundations, fire departments, human services and economic development projects, and the arts in Pamlico, Craven and Lenoir counties were all reported unfavorably by committees.

In all, she sponsored 35 bills that session, including several attempts to promote tourism in the state by creating a tourism study commission and research project.

Beverly Perdue's freshman initiatives focused on health care.

As a first-term representative in the state legislature, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate obtained funding for senior citizens' nutrition and education programs, a semiautomated defibrillator for Pamlico County’s rescue squad and Craven County’s board on aging.

In all, she sponsored 33 bills in the 1987-88 session of the state House of Representatives, of which 26 were adopted.

She secured more than $3,000 for three education initiatives, a Lenoir County’s Boys and Girls Club, a drug and alcohol abuse education program and a service pairing children of single-parent families with adult mentors.

Perdue also helped decorate Craven County ambulances. She co-sponsored a successful bill to add the word “Craven” to the side of county ambulances.

* Health care: Gov. Mike Easley has reappointed Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue to the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which she's chaired since it started in 2001. A former director of geriatrics, Perdue is expected to make health care reform a centerpiece of her campaign for governor.

* Veterans: Perdue will be keynote speaker at a luncheon in Lenoir County for the groundbreaking of a new veterans nursing home. The county originally planned to spend $20,000, but it scaled back after criticism. Perdue is expected to make military relations another focus.

* Gubernatorial campaign: Predictably, Perdue plans barbecue for her campaign kick-off. Odds are now running 50-50 on bluegrass for entertainment. Her campaign is opening an office on St. Mary's Street in Raleigh this week.