North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly is leveraging its final days with a guaranteed supermajority to pass sweeping changes to the State Board of Elections (NCSBE) by shifting power from the governor’s office to the state auditor.
Late on Tuesday evening, the North Carolina House passed Senate Bill 382, which will provide an additional $227 million to the Hurricane Helene Disaster Recovery Fund to assist affected counties in western North Carolina, and reduce government regulations with temporary waivers on wastewater and other infrastructure recovery projects. The bill also gives impacted school district calendar flexibility, and authorizes up to $100 million in loans for local governments to manage cash flow in their recovery projects.
But deeper into the 132-page bill is a language that strips the governor of direct administrative authority over the State Board of Elections (NCSBE), transferring the power over North Carolina’s elections to the state auditor, set to be Republican Dave Boliek in January.
Although the NCSBE retains its statutory independence, the shift outlined in the legislation gives the auditor budgetary oversight starting July 1, 2025, as well as authority over appointing members to the State Board of Elections. Governor Cooper has appointed members for years, resulting in a Democrat-controlled board overseeing the state’s elections.
Under the new law, the Republican state auditor would choose, shifting the partisan power over North Carolina elections in Republicans’ favor. Previously, the General Assembly attempted to acquire power over the elections board, but they ran into issues and are currently held up in an appeals court.
“The changes the legislature makes in the conference report to the State and Local Board of Elections seems to try and address the separation of powers issue that was present in last year’s SB749,” said Jim Stirling, research fellow at the John Locke Foundation, adding that the appointment authority must remain under the executive branch under the decision in McCrory v. Berger. “While the state would be better served by keeping the bipartisan board, this would likely be the basis of rejecting the law due to the conflict this policy has with Cooper v. Berger (2018).”
While Gov. Cooper will likely veto the bill, the General Assembly’s Republican supermajority has the power to override the Democratic governor, but only until the end of the year. House Republicans lost one seat that was needed to retain supermajority powers, which means a veto override will no longer be assured starting in the 2025 session.
The election changes extend to the local level as well. Current county board members will be replaced by new appointees starting in June 2025. Like the State Board, county boards will also see the state auditor appointing their members, including the chairs, further consolidating the auditor’s role in election oversight.
“Keep in mind that the auditor would not direct nor supervise management functions of the state board. I submit to you that the state auditor is the best place for the Board of Elections,” said Rep. Grey Mills, R-Iredell. “Like the Board of Elections, the auditor has a history of performing very important audits and investigations just like the state board is charged with doing after every election.”
House members debated on the floor for hours on Tuesday, with Democrats adamantly opposing the bill, and the legislation passed 63-46 at around 8pm.
“Although we heard earlier that we shouldn’t be politicizing education, tonight you are politicizing a natural disaster by using a relief bill to advance your political power,” said Rep. Julie Von Haefen, D-Wake.
The Senate will convene on Wednesday and is expected to pass the bill.
The late-session move took the Dental Practice Act from 2023 – previously a five-page bill – and made it a 132-page conference report with many items included.
While disaster relief funding for western North Carolina is set to top $1 billion with the additional $227 million from the Savings Reserve, additional measures in the bill will take some power over charter schools and Opportunity Scholarships away from the State Superintendent of Public Schools, who will soon be held by Democrat Mo Green.
The superintendent will no longer be able to appeal decisions of the charter school Review Board, the Center for Safer Schools will be transferred from DPI to the State Bureau of Investigation, and an Office of Learning Research will be established to evaluate private schools receiving vouchers.