After a request from the North Carolina Board of Elections to remove several Black Lives Matter flags adorning Town Hall, the Town of Carrboro expressed plans on Thursday to leave them in place.
A letter emailed by Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell on Wednesday to Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle and the Town Council said the state board recently received complaints about the flags being inside the mandatory buffer zone. North Carolina requires 50-feet apolitical zones where voters can enter a polling place in order to “protect voters from harassment and intimidation,” which includes electioneering or political signs.
Bell wrote the General Counsel to the Republican Party has received several complaints from voters saying the flags violated this rule, which she requested be removed until the end of early voting on Saturday.
“The flags are attached to the front of the one-stop site and therefore could be interpreted as an official endorsement by the board of elections in favor of a particular movement,” wrote the Board of Elections director. “While these flags may be a supported symbol of the Town of Carrboro, the one-stop early voting site is open to any Orange County voter and therefore the site must provide the opportunity for all voters to exercise their right to vote without intimidation or hindrance.”
On Thursday morning, the Carrboro Town Council held an emergency virtual meeting that immediately went into closed session to consult with an attorney. According to Communications Manager Catherine Lazorko, the council did meet about the Black Lives Matter flags.
“After consulting with the town attorney, the Mayor and Town Council have chosen to leave the flags in place,” Lazorko confirmed to Chapelboro in a statement.
The Town of Carrboro installed the Black Lives Matter flags on the town hall building this summer in the wake of nationwide racial injustice protests following the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. The display was an immediate move to show solidarity, according to Carrboro officials, as the town council worked to craft plans for painting a permanent Black Lives Matter. The town recently put out a call to local student artists and a mural coordinator to advance the project for artwork at the CommunityWorx building on West Main Street.
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The Mayor and town council are violating North Carolina election laws. Where is the state’s Attorney General? Someone ought to put up the Stars and Bars then!
Carrboro is pitiul. Named after a slave owner. Hypocrites!
Hypocrites whose town is named after a Slave Master. LMAO Carrboro!
Alternate flags: American Flag, White Lives Matter Flag, Black Lives Matter Flag. All fixed.
It is preferential treatment for one group of lives over all other lives…
I will not shop in Carrboro
This is the same as posting a sign saying “Biden 2020” or “All Whites Are Racists.” It has no business at the entrance to an official polling station. You people are abetting a totalitarian nightmare.
A Public Building should be Neutral , one has to ask “would they Allow the flag of KKK , NAACP , American Flag , Trump Flag , or etc etc .