Elections

NC elections board posts ‘not real’ filing list showing McCrory candidacy. He won’t run

Former Gov. Pat McCrory is not running for the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners despite a list saying otherwise being posted on the State Board of Elections website. The state says the list is “not real.”
Former Gov. Pat McCrory is not running for the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners despite a list saying otherwise being posted on the State Board of Elections website. The state says the list is “not real.” alslitz@charlotteobserver.com

He’s not running.

Former Gov. Pat McCrory told The Charlotte Observer he won’t seek a Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners at-large seat. That’s despite a candidate list showing up on the N.C. Board of Elections website with his name and five others in Mecklenburg County.

All of the people on the State Board of Elections list are registered voters in Mecklenburg County, according to the state’s online voter lookup. A PDF document on the state’s website showed a creation date of Sunday at 10:13 a.m. By mid-morning on Monday, the state uploaded a new list with no names on it after questions from the Observer.

McCrory said he was unsure how his name got on the candidate list, particularly since filing didn’t start until noon Monday.

N.C. State Board of Elections spokesman Patrick Gannon said the filings “are not real.”

Gannon said in a statement to the Observer that a Mecklenburg County Board of Elections employee used the wrong data site for candidate filing training. That resulted in test data showing up in the first candidate list. Mecklenburg County Board of Elections spokeswoman Kristin Mavromatis confirmed Gannon’s statement.

The state plans to update its online list as new candidates file. Candidate filing for the 2024 primary ends Dec. 15.

This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 9:43 AM.

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Josh Bergeron
The Charlotte Observer
Josh Bergeron is the government editor at The Charlotte Observer. Previously, he was the editor of the Salisbury Post in Salisbury, N.C. and worked as an editor and reporter at newspapers in North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi. He’s a proud LSU alumnus — Geaux Tigers.
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