--- title: Daily Update - March 30, 2026 description: Daily Update - March 30, 2026How Did a Convicted Sex Offender Vote Twice in North Carolina?ListenLike and Subscribe Summary Transcript About Reuel Sample Diggin... canonical_url: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-march-30-2026 language: en-GB date: 2026-03-30T10:16:09Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-march-30-2026. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. markdown-tokens: 1383 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-march-30-2026. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ![Criminal Mug Shot](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/daily_update/2026/march/mar30/DailyUpdate-March302026-article.png) How in the world was a convicted criminal allowed to vote? This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Monday March 30 2026. Over the weekend, [the FBI arrested James Osborne](https://portcitydaily.com/local-news/2026/03/28/feds-looking-at-convicted-felon-involved-in-school-board-race-scandal-for-voter-fraud/) for illegally voting in multiple elections here in North Carolina. Mr. Osborne is a convicted felon, a registered sex offender, and is under supervised release serving out his probation until January of 2038. Under North Carolina law, he is prohibited from voting. Nevertheless, under oath – the same oath that every voter has to attest to before voting – he stated he was eligible to participate in our elections. Mr. Osborne came to the public eye because he is the roommate of Rick Southerland. Mr. Southerland was one of the winners of the Democrat primary for the Board of Education who neglected to tell his constituents that his roommate was in trouble with the law over offenses against children. Mr. Southerland wisely withdrew from the race, but only after his roommate’s history was made public – including Mr. Osborne’s statement he had participated in the primary and other elections. For some incredible reason a convicted sex-offender who has violated probation twice also managed to vote in two separate elections. He pulled the wool over the eyes of the election board in Brunswick county in 2024, and did the same again after moving to New Hanover for the 2025 primaries. North Carolina is currently [using an election verification](https://www.wral.com/news/nccapitol/nc-auditor-election-tech-upgrade-scrutiny-mistrust-feb-2026/) system that dates back to 1998. State Auditor Dave Boliek has started the process to update our system, and the state legislature has set aside $15 million dollars to make that happen. But because it is government, the update will probably take several years. Meanwhile, election officials will need to work with a system that is written in programming languages that are no longer supported, is difficult to manage and update, and still relies in many case on manual forms to get data. Clearly, since people like Mr. Osborne twice offset the ballot of those who are legally able to vote, we need to make those changes quicker. For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. 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