Forsyth County’s newly elected Soil and Water District Supervisor Edward Jones is a registered sex offender, with an address listed in another county.
According to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's Sex Offender Registry, Jones was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old in 2001, when he was 31.
But Tim Tsujii with the Forsyth County Board of Elections says Jones did not submit a felony disclosure form when filing his candidacy, as required by state law.
Additionally, the address tied to Jones on the registry is in Davie County and does not match the address he gave when running for office. The Soil and Water District Supervisor is required to live in Forsyth County.
Tsujii says this matter has been referred to the State Board of Elections Investigations Division.
Jones won the race with 63% of the vote, defeating Winston-Salem State University physics professor Lei Zhang.
Jones had been listed on the Forsyth County Democratic Party's sample ballot, but according to the party chair, Jenny Marshall, it's customary for the organization to list all candidates who are registered as Democrats on the ballot.
"We don't have the mechanisms to do background checks like that," Marshall said. "We would hope that people would run for office under the knowledge that as a public figure you should be respectful, you shouldn't have any kind of restrictions or limitations like Mr. Jones has with the sex [offender] registry. Obviously, that's a big, huge red flag that you should not run for office."
Marshall said she is in contact with the State Board of Elections to determine what the mechanism is for filling a potential vacancy in the Soil and Water District Supervisor role.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.