Live NC Election Updates: Robo Calls, Intimidation Complaints

This story was updated at 6:25 p.m.

NORTH CAROLINA — Voters headed to the polls Tuesday — including some boosters advocating for candidates at the polls and a man with a holstered gun who prompted concerns about intimidation — as North Carolina residents cast ballots.

The state's votes could help determine the most pivotal national races on the ballot, starting with the next president and which party holds sway in the U.S. Senate.

Poll hours, which were set to end at 7:30 p.m., were extended for some poll sites after reported delays in Concord, Greensboro, Dunn and Clinton. The extension is expected to delay the North Carolina State Board of Election's release of statewide results to at least 8:15 p.m.

Four hours into voting in Charlotte, some voters felt intimidated by a man with a gun outside the Oasis Shrine Temple poll site on Doug Mayes Place, a poll watcher told ProPublica's Electionland, which is taking tips about voting problems. "A man is walking around near the polling site with a gun in a holster," the complaint said.

A precinct manager with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections confirmed the incident to Patch, saying the man arrived with the handgun and was allowed to cast his vote, and then called the Board of Elections office himself after the gun provoked reaction from others at the location.

"He was complaining that people were hollering at him as he was leaving," Precinct Manager Mike Crutch said.

SEE ALSO: Armed Man Arrested At Charlotte Polling Site: CMPD

Crutch said it was the first incident involving a firearm at a polling site in the county.

Near Asheville, authorities issued a warning about robocalls spreading misinformation to voters. "Do not listen to these robocall voicemails!," Buncombe County Government said, via social media. "Today is your last chance to vote. If you are in line by 7:30 p.m., you will get to vote."

Late in the afternoon Tuesday, confusion erupted outside one polling site in Graham, North Carolina, when police officers parked outside the polling precinct and demanded that everyone, including media, move away from the building, according to a report from the scene. "Police are not moving their cars, would not answer a question as to why they arrived at the voting precinct," Cardinal & Pine reporter Sarah Ovaska said, via Twitter. "State board of elections had informed people previously that armed officer should not be stationed in front of polling sites." The officers later moved their vehicles, but refused to explain to poll observers why they were there, she said.

The incident occurred just days after officers in the town pepper sprayed attendees of a voter turnout and racial justice rally that included elderly participants and children. Despite the fact the rally goers had a permit for the event, law enforcement claimed the group making their way to an early voting site was an "unlawful assembly," according to reports. Monday, a federal lawsuit was filed accusing officers of voter intimidation.

SEE ALSO: Complaints Of Intimidation On NC's First Day Of Early Voting

State voters will decide who will be the next governor, settling a referendum on incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has spent the lion's share of the last year in his current term charting the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Also on the ballot is North Carolina's council of state, three seats on the state's Supreme Court and a laundry list of local races.

The Department of Justice said Monday it would be sending personnel to 44 jurisdictions in 18 states, including North Carolina's Mecklenburg and Wake counties to monitor voting rights compliance on Election Day.

"Federal law entrusts the Civil Rights Division with protecting the right to vote for all Americans," Eric S. Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. "Our federal laws protect the right of all American citizens to vote without suffering discrimination, intimidation, and harassment. The work of the Civil Rights Division around each federal general election is a continuation of its historical mission to ensure that all of our citizens can freely exercise this most fundamental American right."

Elsewhere in the state, tensions mounted at a poll site in Polk County, North Carolina were a protester was dressed in a Trump suit and mask with a large campaign flag emblazoned with guns, which some voters found intimidating. In Wake County, a truck with a large campaign flag reportedly drove through a parking log outside the 50-foot buffer zone at the poll site, aggressively honking the horn. At a poll site in Cabarrus County, a man with graphic anti-abortion, pro-life signs reportedly screamed at voters.

Numerous complaints also rolled in regarding the lack of curbside voting for the disabled. Every polling site in the state is required to offer curbside voting, however it has not been uniformly accessible due to a variety of reasons, such as lack of personnel, signage or plan.

At one Charlotte metro polling site, a small number of voters were given the wrong ballot, according to reports.

Voters who cast ballots between 6:30 a.m. and 7:26 a.m. at Hickory Ridge Middle Schools in Harrisburg were given a ballot that did not include the 83rd District North Carolina House race, officials said.

"We are working to resolve a ballot issue that affects 50 voters (we have exact names)," Cabarrus County said in a statement, urging anyone who voted during that timeframe to return to the poll site. "Your ballot counts; however, you are encouraged to return to the site and cast a provisional ballot for the House race only by 7:30 p.m." officials said.

Sunday's RealClearPolitics average of polls on the state of the presidential race in North Carolina showed it a virtual tie with 47.7 percent support for Democrat Joe Biden, and 47.4 percent support for President Donald Trump.

High voter interest underscores the competition, observers say.

“The regional aspect of the state kind of mirrors national dynamics, and more and more people are moving to urban and suburban areas. Rural communities and counties are losing population; that’s true across the country,” Michael Bitzer, who teaches politics and history at Catawba College, told Elon News Network.

Young voters are also leading a charge.

“North Carolina is looking at a dynamic that is also happening nationally, and that is generational replacement,” Bitzer said.

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A crop of new voters is also help driving the tightening presidential race among early voters. Of the 148,000 newly registered voters in North Carolina, 60 percent have cast ballots for Democratic presidential hopeful Biden, compared to 40 percent for President Trump, Politico reported last week. And while early voting has historically favored the Democratic party, Republicans are turning out in higher numbers in early trips to the polls, which the party hopes will help close the gap, Politico said.

Presidential Overtures

Changing political demographics in the state in recent years has turned North Carolina into a toss-up state, thrusting it into "the center of the political universe," according to CNN. "The state the president won by more than 3 percentage points four years ago has continued its gradual political transformation, moving away from the red states to its south and toward its bluer neighbors to the north," CNN said.

Trump's travel to the state highlights just how important his campaign views the Tar Heel state. On Oct. 21, Trump flouted the state's coronavirus executive order and held a shoulder-to-shoulder rally in Gastonia drawing a crowd of at least 23,000. Within days, he announced he supported federal recognition of the Lumbee, North Carolina's largest Native American tribe, and that he would be appearing in Lumberton for an Oct. 24 rally. The campaign stop marked his eighth visit to the state since he formally accepted the GOP nomination in August, the Charlotte Observer reported.

The same week, Biden made campaign stops in Durham, while his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, held events in Asheville and Charlotte. The campaign is focusing on motivating Black voters, who are essential to winning the state and its 15 electoral votes.

Those 15 electoral votes are crucial for Trump to remain in office, and without them, "his path to victor would become significantly more difficult," The Washington Post reported.

Senate Spending

The bid for president is an expensive one, expected to surpass $5 billion in spending by the time the election draws to a close, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Second to that, is the North Carolina Senate race, which is the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history, the organization said. As of Oct. 13, more than $233 million has been spent on advertising alone in the general election by the campaigns for Democrat Cal Cunningham and GOP incumbent Thom Tillis.

The cash outlay indicates the high stakes, observers say. In this year's election 23 GOP seats and 12 Democratic seats are put before voters — and forecasting predicts Democrats are favored to gain control, FiveThirtyEight said Friday.

Three days into October, however, North Carolina voters received their own version of a tawdry "October Surprise" when news broke that Cal Cunningham, the Democratic challenger in the state's closely contested U.S. Senate contest, admitted to exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a woman who's not his wife. Cunningham publically apologized to his wife, family and friends but said he would not drop out of the race.

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