Tag search result

Linda Coleman's campaign to become lieutenant governor has turned from an effort to convince voters to choose her to trying to convince local boards of elections they should count more provisional ballots.

Her campaign produced a list of 500 voters Wednesday who cast provisional ballots that are in the "not counted" pile, but which the campaign says are registered voters who voted in their home counties.

The campaign has a team plowing through the list of more than 51,000 people who cast provisional ballots, looking for those whose votes they think are about to be improperly thrown out.

Coleman, a Democrat, is trailing Republican Dan Forest in the race, but she continues a full-on press to count votes that weren't part of the Election Day tally. She has closed the gap by more than 1,000 votes since election night, with some counties rolling in counts of mail-in and provisional ballots. According to the last unofficial count, she trails by 10,309 votes.

The campaign for Linda Coleman, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, is seeking voter registration records from the state Division of Motor Vehicles covering the last two years.

The Coleman campaign is working to have thousands of provisional votes counted by local boards of election this week, and is looking for cases where voters are about to have their ballots wrongfully thrown out.  Campaign officials think that the DMV voter registration database will show that people who should be counted as  registered cast ballots that for some reason are in question.

Coleman trails her Republican opponent Dan Forest by 11,103. Counting more provisional votes could put her ahead, or at least pull her into recount range.

Democracy for America has endorsed Democrat Linda Coleman in the race for lieutenant governor.

The endorsement means fund-raising help and a source of volunteers. Democracy for America, a political action committee founded by Howard Dean, will ask its 31,000 North Carolina members to help in Coleman's campaign.

The NRA Political Victory Fund endorsed Republican Dan Forest in the race for lieutenant governor.

Forest received a grade of "A" from the gun-rights group, meaning that the endorsement was based on his questionnaire answers. Democratic candidate Linda Coleman received a C-, a grade based on her voting record. Coleman is a former state House member.

"As a defender of the Constitution, I am grateful to the NRA for their "A"  rating, Forest said in a statement. "I am a proud member of the NRA and share their commitment to defending the Second Amendment (right) to bear arms."

State Rep. Dale Folwell, the No. 2 Republican in the House, announced plans Tuesday to campaign for lieutenant governor, championing a slogan "Dale can fix N.C."

Folwell, the speaker pro tem, said in December that he wouldn't seek re-election but his plans remained unknown until his announcement in Winston-Salem. He stood with local school superintendent Don Martin, volunteer fire fighter Jim Lasley, Sheriff Bill Schatzman and local business owners who highlighted legislation Folwell advocated on their behalf. He also helped shepherd a constitutional ban on gay marriage and civil unions onto the May primary ballot.

The four-term, self-employed consultant enters a crowded field for what many consider a thankless position. Republicans Dan Forest and Tony Gurley, both of Wake County, are already campaigning for the job. The lieutenant governor's most high profile position is managing the work of the N.C. Senate. See his campaign website here and full announcement below.