The Buncombe County Republican Party will submit complaints to the Buncombe County Board of Elections at their meeting on Friday over the appearance of impropriety at early voting locations. The organization objects to the distribution of James Taylor concert tickets at several polling locations in Buncombe County during the same hours as early voting, as advertised in the Citizen-Times. The concert was advertised as supporting Senator Barack Obama, candidate for President. On Wednesday, party officials and local citizens urged the Buncombe County Board of Elections to request that the North Carolina Board of Elections and the District Attorney investigate whether or not actual vote-buying took place.

“With the recent concerns over possible voter fraud surrounding ACORN, as well as complaints from within the Democratic Party itself over election issues, we should all be hyper-vigilant about following election laws. Bribing voters with concert tickets is an appalling abuse of our election process,” says Dr. Timothy Johnson, Chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party. “Fair elections are the foundation of our freedom and our representative government. We will protect the integrity of our elections at all costs.”

The Board of Elections meeting will be held on Friday, October 24, at 6:00 PM.