Voter finds out why he was turned away at Charlotte polling site

CHARLOTTE — Conor Brennan said he went to the Bank of America Stadium voting site to cast a ballot Friday afternoon but he was turned away because someone already voted in his name.

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“To think of how easy it was for this to happen, it’s thought-provoking,” Brennan said.

He thought he was going to the booth, but a poll worker said he couldn’t vote.

Brennan said it was “very alarming.”

“So somehow, someone went to early vote, had my first name, last name, date of birth, and changed my address and was able to vote as me,” he said. “That’s alarming. It’s very alarming.”

The situation raised suspicions.

“Is it just the voting part, or do I have a bigger problem with the identity theft piece?” Brennan said.

He left not knowing where to turn and wondering if he would be able to participate in the upcoming election.

“All they offered up at the time was that I filled out a provisional ballot,” Brennan told Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe.

During their interview, Mecklenburg County Elections Director Michael Dickerson returned Lowe’s phone call.

Dickerson investigated the matter, and they got the answer about what happened.

There is another Conor Brennan in Charlotte. However, they have different birthdays.

Dickerson said election workers incorrectly associated the Brennan Conner Channel 9 spoke with and another Brennan Conner who voted in South End.

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“What should have happened was back here, we should have noticed it before it went out, that this is a different date of birth,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson said Brennan is cleared to vote and the other ConorBrennan’s ballot is fine.

“The good thing was we had a paper trail,” he said. “A good record of everything that went through there so we could easily correct it.”

“You have done more for me than I thought anybody would do for me, and thank you so much,” Brennan told Lowe.

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