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Poll observer says he saw bipartisan effort to ensure integrity of voting process in Mecklenburg County

There are roughly 200 poll observers in North Carolina who are appointed by political parties. It’s their job to look for any irregularities at the polls.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — WCNC Charlotte is hearing firsthand from someone who was selected to watch the voting process in Charlotte.

There are roughly 200 poll observers in North Carolina who are appointed by political parties. It’s their job to look for any irregularities at the polls.

William Bray is an attorney who volunteered to be a poll observer. He said if anything came up, it was handled by both Democrats and Republicans, but he did not see any major issues.

It’s not always easy to get Republicans and Democrats in Congress to agree to something, but people from both parties signed onto a ‘thank you’ card for Bray at a precinct in Mecklenburg County.

“I thought that was awesome, I'll probably keep that forever,” said Bray.

Bray received the card for buying donuts and coffee for the poll workers.  He was appointed by the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party to be a poll observer who was authorized to watch the voting process.  Each political party can designate two observers to a voting place.

“There was a Republican poll observer, we sat next to each other for a few hours, talked about our kids, talked about school,” said Bray.

RELATED: Thousands of ballots are being counted in Mecklenburg County

As lawsuits over the election are popping up around the country, Bray said he didn’t see any major issues with the voting process itself.

“At no time, did I see any issues at all with ballots being discarded or rejected by the machine,” said Bray.

Bray said there were a few cases where people who had recently moved were directed to the wrong precinct, but he said the issues were ultimately resolved in a bipartisan manner.

“These were Republicans and Democrats, they didn't care who anybody was voting for, they just wanted to make sure these folks got their votes in,” said Bray.

Andrew Goh was among the roughly 30,000 poll workers in the state. He said there was no civil unrest or even unkindness from voters at his precinct in Mecklenburg County.  In fact, he saw just the opposite.

“People were very kind and very generous about telling us how much they appreciated us being there and the work that we did,” said Goh.

Goh says a few people were confused about voter ID laws, but he saw no major issues at his precinct either.

RELATED: SC Senator Lindsey Graham pledges $500k to President Trump's legal defense amid fraud allegations

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