Bolton is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States.

As part of their inquiry into election fraud, the agents pretended to be interest in opening a bar in Bolton.

They pushed for a referendum to legalize liquor-by-the-drink in the town and paid local politician Herbert Riggins to buy votes in their favor, the first time the FBI had ever attempted to manipulate a public election.

[6][7] The referendum was held on April 30, 1982, with a majority of local residents in favor of legalizing liquor-by-the-drink, though Riggins mostly avoided involving himself in the vote.

Civil rights groups responded by launching the "Bolton Movement", a series of protests across the county, which led to the Ku Klux Klan hosting counterprotests in the town.

A few years later the mayor and an alderman pled no contest to charges of mismanaging the town's finances.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.7 km2), all land.