A few words from TENC founder, Lynn Bernstein

Unfortunately, advocates sometimes have to publicly shine a light on government officials who are not following the law in order to ensure that our democratic mechanisms remain in place.

TENC Founder, Lynn Bernstein, has been speaking up about many improvements that could be made to our election systems since 2017. During the 2020 election, she successfully prevented NC from continuing to process absentee-by-mail ballots illegally and in a non-secure way. She has spoken out for the disability community’s access to public meetings, for increased transparency regarding public observation, and for better auditing practices.

Since then, she has been harassed and targeted by appointed officials in Wake County, including being falsely accused of of a crime in order to forever ban her from public meetings & voting in-person at the BOE. She was illegally banned without warning and without due process and was not afforded a public defender since she has not been charged with a crime nor issued a ticket. Both the security guard for the BOE (who is a former sheriff’s deputy) and Wake County police officer, who issued the trespass notice, confirmed that she did nothing wrong, but they told her that, due to the Election Director’s request, if she ever goes onto BOE property again, she would be arrested on site!

How is this possible?
The Election Director (ED) ordered the security guard (and former Sheriff’s Deputy) to call 911 on her because he did not like her prior speech or advocacy efforts, and did not want her to hold a protest. He claimed that it was suspicious that she parked next door to the BOE and not in the BOE parking lot. The ED ordered a second call to 911 be placed, accusing her of tampering with a closed gate in order to gain access to the BOE while she was walking on the public right of way. Surveillance footage, that was originally illegally withheld by Wake County, shows that she was nowhere near the gate! She was there to doing her due diligence in planning for a peaceful and legal protest on election night because despite the law, the Election Director continues to prevent public observation at the BOE. She had a protest permit and went above and beyond by notifying the BOE that she was going to hold a protest the following week, even asking the BOE to give input on where to stand in order to not disrupt their work.

Now, she is facing a legal battle to get her rights restored, including the right to attend public meetings and to vote in-person!
For more information, please see press release below and the Lawsuit filed Aug 19, 2022 in Federal Court Case # 5:22-cv-00277-BO.

UPDATE:
The federal judge granted a preliminary injunction for the ban to be temporary lifted pending trial. In his ruling, he specifically states that Lynn’s rights were violated because the Election Director and Board did not like her advocacy and prior speech. He found no wrongdoing on her part and stated that she would prevail on her claims when the case went to trial. Lynn settled with the county a few months later and continues the mission of working towards elections that are worthy of the public’s trust.

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