Simpson sues Board of Elections, claims dismissal violated First Amendment rights – Greensboro News & Record

WENTWORTH Amy Simpson, the former senior deputy director of the Rockingham County Board of Elections, recently filed a federal lawsuit against the board and two of its members, alleging they violated her First Amendment rights and state law by firing her Sept. 29.

In Simpsons complaint, made by her attorney Walter Horton of Winston-Salem in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Simpson alleges she was wrongfully terminated after board members Toni Reece and Bonnie Purgason acted to have her ousted based on a private conversation Simpson had with her doctor about placement of a sign outside his office.

Simpson, who is seeking a jury trial, asks in the lawsuit for $100,000 in punitive damages, both from the board and from Reece and Purgason, $25,000 in compensatory wages for time she performed the duties of interim elections board director, reinstatement as senior deputy director of the elections board, and further damages to be awarded at the discretion of a jury, including legal costs.

A longtime county employee who had served in various jobs over the past 20 years, including interim Register of Deeds, Simpson was dismissed 10 months before she became eligible for full retirement benefits.

The lawsuit claims Simpson, during a visit to her physician, asked the doctor, "if a friend could put a sign up outside of his office He said, yes, the suit reads.

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Simpson sues Board of Elections, claims dismissal violated First Amendment rights - Greensboro News & Record