North Carolina Senate Republicans have advanced a bill that would eliminate Gov. Roy Cooper’s power to appoint members to the majority Democrat state election board.
The bill would give lawmakers, instead of the governor, the power to appoint members to the NCSBE.
Specifically, the legislation assigns the president pro tempore of the Senate, currently Republican Sen. Phil Berger; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, currently Republican Rep. Tim Moore; the minority leader of the Senate, currently Democrat Sen. Dan Blue; and the minority leader, currently Democrat Rep. Robert Reives, initial appointing authority using NCSBE voting registration statistics.
“The state party chair of each of the two political parties having the highest number of registered affiliates as reflected by the latest registration statistics published by the State Board shall submit to the General Assembly a list of four nominees who are affiliated with that political party,” the bill states. “The General Assembly shall give due consideration to the nominations provided by the party chairs. However, the General Assembly is not required to appoint members from those lists and may appoint any registered voter in the state.”
Currently, there are five members on the NCSBE, two of whom are Republicans.
The board’s executive director presiding over the five members is also a Democrat.
‘Intense Political Polarization’
According to Berger, the bill restructures the NCSBE by dividing the appointing authority between majority and minority leaders to ensure that one party doesn’t have control over the NCSBE and county boards.“We are living in a time of intense political polarization,” Berger said. “Having a Board of Elections that is controlled by one party only sows distrust in our elections and we must find a new approach to quell concerns that cast doubt on the fairness of our elections.”
Berger pointed to a 2023 Cygnal “Survey of Likely General Election Voters” poll showing that only 50 percent of North Carolina voters think future elections will be fair.
“We want a Board of Elections that can come to bipartisan compromise, instead of pushing partisan policy goals,” said Senate Redistricting and Elections Committee Chairman Sen. Paul Newton, a Republican. “Elections are critical to our democracy and any changes should be made by a consensus.”
The bill decreases county election boards from five to four members, giving legislative leaders the power to appoint one member to the county board.
State and county boards would elect the chair of their boards. If those boards don’t elect a chair, lawmakers would appoint the chair. The same rules would apply to electing the state board executive director.
Senate Redistricting and Elections Chairman Warren Daniel, a Republican, said no one party or person should oversee appointing members.
“This proposal widens the pool of eligible board members and allows for all 170 members of the General Assembly to have a say in the appointment process,” Daniel said. “We want the best, most qualified appointees from across the state to serve on the board, and this proposal will accomplish that.”
Since the controversial 2020 election, which former President Donald Trump has since alleged was stolen, the NCSBE—as well as local election boards throughout the United States—has faced scrutiny over its partisan leadership.
The stand-off was one of many between election boards and citizens who were beginning to question the integrity and bias of these boards.
