For the first time in a decade, GOP controls NC's election board
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Republicans now make up the majority of North Carolina State Board of Elections' members, wresting control from Democrats for the first time in nearly a decade.
Why it matters: The change — made possible by a recent ruling from an unnamed three-judge panel on the North Carolina Court of Appeals — could transform how the state administers elections by handing Republicans the power to set election rules, enforce campaign finance laws and make decisions on election protests.
Driving the news: A new elections board, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, was sworn in Wednesday under the purview of the Republican state auditor Dave Boliek.
- In its first meeting Wednesday, the new board was swift to oust its director since 2019, Karen Brinson Bell, installing one of their own, Republican attorney Sam Hayes, in her place.
What they're saying: Democrats were quick to criticize the move, calling Hayes, who serves as House Speaker Destin Hall's general counsel, an "extreme Republican operative."
- Republicans praised the move as one that could restore public confidence in the board, though NCGOP chairman Jason Simmons said it "will take time."
- "We are hopeful in the new direction that began today," Simmons said in a statement.
Catch up quick: In a lame-duck December legislative session and in the waning days of their supermajority, Republican lawmakers passed legislation that included a measure stripping elections board appointment powers from the governor and granting them to the state auditor.
- Incoming Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, along with outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, filed a lawsuit that has made its way through the courts. Last week, an appeals court panel upheld the change.
- The move effectively gave Republicans control over the board for now, handing power to Boliek, who was elected in November as the first Republican to serve in the position since 2009.
- Boliek appointed three Republicans nominated by the state GOP to the five-member board less than 24 hours after the ruling.
How it works: A maximum of three members of each party are allowed on the board, meaning whichever party holds the office that's tasked with appointing members to the board will have a majority.
Case in point: Had Republicans controlled the elections board last year, when Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin protested the validity of tens of thousands of North Carolinians' ballots after the 2024 election, a GOP-majority board might have ruled in Griffin's favor.
- Such a move could have made Griffin — who on Wednesday conceded the race to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs — the winner of the election.
The big picture: In addition to holding a majority on the state elections board, Republicans now control the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court.
- In stripping away its control of the board, Republicans have further weakened the North Carolina governorship, already one of the weakest in the country.