CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte man who went to vote on the second day of early voting in Mecklenburg County says he was stunned to learn his vote was already processed when he arrived to cast a ballot.
Conor Brennan sat down with WCNC Charlotte to describe what happened at Bank of America Stadium on Friday. When he presented his information, the system showed someone else beat him to the punch, voting under his name ... or so he thought.
"They mentioned that I had already voted earlier that day at another location," Brennan said.
Brennan said when he presented his identification, a poll worker gave him the shocking news.
"Strange though, very strange," Michael Dickerson, Mecklenburg County's elections director, said.
"Not feeling like my vote is going to be recorded or heard is an invasion of my rights and disappointing," Brennan said.
Dickerson gave some clarity on the situation, saying it was human error when another person with the same name voted in Mecklenburg County. State records show there are three people named Conor Brennan who are registered to vote in North Carolina, with two of them in Mecklenburg County.
"Two separate people," Dickerson said. "The record we indicated put the entry in as the same person."
Two voters, with the same name and same birthday, were mistakenly put in the system as the same person. Dickerson says it's not uncommon for issues like this to pop up.
"Happens a lot from juniors and seniors, firsts and seconds, family names," he said.
Fortunately, Dickerson says there's a process that will clear it up when it's time to count the votes and verify ballots. He said the ballot the first Conor Brennan filled out and the provisional ballot the second Conor Brennan filled out will go in the bucket under the correct name.
"When he goes to vote, his vote will count," Dickerson said. "The first vote will already count, too. A mistake on our part when they did the entry. We were able to correct it and take care of it from there."
Contact Anna King at aking2@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X, and Instagram.