NC Dog Registered to Vote

He's never placed a hand on the voting lever because he has paws
-- Parker Carroll is a 15-year-old chocolate lab owned by the son of
a former election precinct official in Kings Mountain.

The Cleveland County Board of Elections, which is investigating
how the dog got registered, uncovered the canine voter when mail
sent to Parker Carroll about a polling place change was returned.

"I'm so sorry that it happened, but I don't know anything about
how it got registered," Christine Carroll, the former precinct
official, said Friday. She said her son, Glenn, owns the dog.

The county elections board received a voter registration
application in January 1999 with the name Parker Carroll listing a
Kings Mountain address. A registration notification was delivered
to the address listing Parker Carroll as a county voter.

But a mailing to Parker Carroll and others in March informing
voters in a Kings Mountain precinct about the polling site change
was returned by the post office marked "no mail receptacle."

County elections director Debra Blanton attempted to locate
Parker Carroll and discovered the name belonged to a dog.

Christine Carroll said the dog is well known around Kings
Mountain and has twice been a write-in candidate for mayor recent
years.

A preliminary hearing on challenging the registration is set for
Sept. 6, Blanton said. The board eventually could refer the case to
the district attorney for further investigation.