The NC State Board of Elections has ordered a new election be held for the District 2 commissioners race in Benson.
Dean McLamb filed a protest with the Johnston County Board of Elections in November after losing to incumbent John Bonner.
At issue were 25 Benson voters who should have received a ballot in District 2 but instead were given a ballot for another precinct and 12 voters who received a District 2 ballot but shouldn’t have.
Those 37 votes were enough to make a difference in the race decided by just 7 votes – 85 to 78.
The problem started in 2008 when the Town of Benson changed its voting maps. Somehow the changes to the voting district boundaries never got updated by the Johnston County Board of Elections.
The state board ruled the new election would be held on March 15th, the date of the Primary Election.
“I don’t think there was any violation of election law, at least intentional, but I do think there were irregularities.. .I think this was just a misapplication of information that was innocent and nobody intended this to happen,” said Johnston County Election Board member Gordon Woodruff.
