Amid North Carolina Election Probe, Voters Are Scared, Confused And Angry

One woman who gave evidence to the state said she was scared what would happen to her.

Emma Shipman’s house is hidden away at the end of a long and narrow, bumpy dirt road. But over the last week, the 87-year-old says she’s been stunned at how many reporters have made the trek.

Shipman holds key evidence in a closely watched probe into irregularities involving absentee ballots in the state’s 9th Congressional District. Shortly before this year’s election, Shipman says a woman came to her home and took her unsealed but filled-out absentee ballot, which is illegal in North Carolina. Then, a few days before Election Day, Shipman says the woman returned with a sealed ballot and stamps and asked her to turn it in. Shipman said she was suspicious, so she went to the polls on her own and decided to cast an in-person vote instead.

Shipman, who is black, submitted a written affidavit to the state board of elections through the state Democratic Party last week. Sitting in her living room Wednesday evening, she said she was glad she spoke up but had grown increasingly more scared the more attention she got.

“I wonder what the other side is going to do. They see me on TV and see me talk and all that stuff, they’re going to come back and get on me or what,” she said. “People are so mean that it isn’t even funny. There’s something they may come back to do to me. I think about that, too.”

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