By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – The Executive Director of the State Board of Elections says his office is required by law to look into all sworn complaints filed about a candidate's campaign finance report.
Executive Director Gary Bartlett says his office receives between 50 and 70 complaints a year. He says many of those are frivolous, but the ones that aren't get checked out by his staff.
From there the complaint can be sent to the State Board of Elections: which can either decided there was no violation, give a public censure, or refer the matter to a district attorney.
Bartlett says most of the major campaigns call his office to make sure they're following the rule.
And the reason why is that usually if a mistake is made on a major campaign they end up in the newspaper or on the radio.
Bartlett says the State Board of Elections also holds hearings which involves putting people under oath, taking sworn testimony and granting immunity.