The lawmaker said she'd intended to vote against a bill legalizing fracking. N.C. pol casts deciding vote in error

One of the most controversial issues in North Carolina politics was decided on Monday night by a single vote that was mistakenly cast for the opposing side.

State Rep. Becky Carney, a Democrat from Charlotte, meant to vote against a bill legalizing fracking in the state but pressed the green button instead of the red one. As a result, the measure passed with exactly the number of votes necessary to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto.


“Oh, my God,” Carney said on the House floor, according to The News and Observer. “It won’t let me change my vote.”

Under House rules, a vote can’t be changed if it will alter the outcome, and Speaker of the House Thom Tillis, a Republican, refused to waive the rules to allow Carney to change her vote.

“This late at night, tired and an important vote of this magnitude I should have been allowed that courtesy,” she reportedly said.