Illegally moving the goalposts. Intentionally violating North Carolinians’ civil rights. They’re the upshot of federal lawsuits filed separately on Saturday, Sept. 26, by Republican leaders in the N.C. General Assembly and the Republican National Committee/Donald Trump campaign against the N.C. State Board of Elections. A memo from the State Board of Elections changed absentee ballot...
This story will be updated regularly. Fewer than six weeks from the 2020 general election, two of the five members of the State Board of Elections walked off the job. Republicans are disgusted. They say they were misled by information from the board. Its staff. State Attorney General Josh Stein. Together, the Democratic majority handled...
The day after the state announced a settlement with Democratic super-litigator Marc Elias likely gutting absentee ballot protections, the State Board of Elections’ two Republican members resigned. They suggested they were tricked into going along with a plan to let the board’s director negotiate settlements out of court. Members David Black and Ken Raymond separately...
Two Republican candidates are joining President Trump on North Carolina’s presidential ballot — against the wishes of the N.C. Republican party. The N.C. State Board of Elections on Friday, Dec. 20, unanimously approved former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois to appear on the ballot for the 2020 primaries....
The State Board of Elections ousted Executive Director Kim Strach Monday, May 13, on a party line vote, naming Karen Brinson Bell of Charleston, South Carolina, to replace Strach effective June 1. Strach served six of her 19 years with the state board as executive director, having built a reputation as an intrepid investigator on...
Gov. Roy Cooper named three Democrats and two Republicans Thursday to the newly constituted State Board of Elections. The board members’ first big test will be the disputed election in the 9th Congressional District. The new board elected Democrat Bob Cordle of Charlotte chairman in conference call a couple of hours after Cooper’s announcement. Along...
The N.C. Conference of the NAACP and Clean Air Carolina are asking Wake County Superior Court to strip four proposed constitutional amendments from the Nov. 6 general election ballot. The lawsuit argues the amendments are vague, incomplete, and misleading — and that the General Assembly itself is an unconstitutionally constituted usurper body that can’t propose...
Gov. Roy Cooper has filed a court challenge to two constitutional amendments because they “would take a wrecking ball to the separation of powers” by rewriting bedrock constitutional provisions — including the Separation of Powers Clause itself. Cooper, a Democrat, says the Republican-led General Assembly wants to strip his power to appoint thousands of officials...
Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, will have a Democratic challenger in the general election after all. After two hours of debate July 12, the Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement reversed a local elections panel’s decision disqualifying Jennifer Mangrum from the race. In what is becoming a familiar 5-4 split — with unaffiliated...
State Sen. Ben Clark, D-Hoke, survived an eligibility challenge that could have knocked him out of his re-election race a few days before the May 8 primary. But his credibility took some blows. The Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement voted 7-1 Thursday, May 3, to uphold a three-member local election board decision...
John Lewis, a Republican recently named to the Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, says the eight-member board — set to hold its first meeting at 8 a.m. Wednesday — should have more time before recommending its ninth member. And he’d like to give the public time to participate in that decision. House...
