RALEIGH, North Carolina — Thursday, North Carolina’s state auditor appointed a new panel, giving Republicans a majority on the elections board. This came one day after an appeals court said a law taking power away from the Democratic governor could still be applied while its constitutionality is considered.
Three Republicans and two Democrats were chosen by auditor Dave Boliek from names given by the state parties to serve on the board. Just a week before, trial judges agreed with new Gov. Josh Stein that a law passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in December that took away the governor’s power to select board members was against the state constitution. Stein and Roy Cooper, who was the Democratic governor before Stein, sued to remove the law.
But Boliek, who was voted to the job last fall, went ahead with the appointments after the intermediate-level Court of Appeals said on Wednesday that the switch could still happen while more important legal issues are looked at on appeal.
In the late evening of Wednesday, Stein asked the state Supreme Court to overturn the three appeals judges’ unanimous decision and keep blocking the bill. But as of late Thursday night, the judges hadn’t done what he asked, which gave Boliek time to step in. According to the law, the terms of the five newest members, which were meant to last until 2027, ended on Wednesday. New members will be chosen on Thursday and will start their four-year terms on Thursday.
If the appointments are confirmed, they will drastically change how elections are run in the battleground state. The governor has chosen the five board members for more than one hundred years. Three of them have always been from the governor’s party, which has been Democrats since 2017.
With Boliek, Republicans could take over as the majority on the board. The board’s jobs include following campaign finance laws, confirming election results, and making rules for how to run elections.
The change is a political win for the GOP, which has been trying since late 2016 to weaken or get rid of the governor’s power to choose the board. Four laws that were meant to hurt Cooper were blocked by judges. In 2018, voters also turned down a constitutional proposal that would have made the governor choose members based on what legislative leaders suggested.
Republicans said that the governor, and they often singled out Cooper, has too much power over elections, which means that the board makes decisions based on one party’s views on a number of important issues related to voting and running for office.
But Democrats say that the laws have always been attempts by the GOP to take power and give them an unfair edge in elections. The newest law is no different.
Anderson Clayton, the chair of the state Democratic Party, sent Boliek a letter on Thursday with her party’s list of possible appointees. In the letter, she made it clear that her party was against the change: “It is an abuse of power and a disservice to the people of North Carolina that Republicans passed an unconstitutional bill that took that power from the Governor’s office and gave it to you.”
The board’s importance has been clear in the November race for a seat on the state Supreme Court, which is still unfinished and is between Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs and Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin, who is himself a Court of Appeals judge.
After the Court of Appeals decision on Wednesday, Stein said that he was afraid that the changes to the appointments would make it easier for Republicans to help Griffin win the seat. At this point, Riggs is slightly ahead.
Boliek chose three Republicans to serve on the board: Stacy “Four” Eggers, who was on the last board, former state Sen. Bob Rucho, and Francis De Luca, who was head of a conservative think tank.
State GOP Chairman Jason Simmons said Thursday, “These board members will make sure that North Carolinians have fair, free, honest, and open election administration.”