NC Republicans propose evenly split county and state elections boards and eliminating Cooper's appointment powers
Under Senate Bill 749, North Carolina's governor would no longer be able to appoint members onto county elections boards and the State Board of Elections.
Top North Carolina state lawmakers on Monday released a bill to eliminate the ability of Gov. Roy Cooper and future governors to appoint state and county elections officials.
Currently, the State Board of Elections is composed of three Democrats and two Republicans. State party chairs send a list of potential nominees for the governor to choose from. Senate Bill 749 would increase the number of NCSBE board members from five to eight. The proposal would have four members chosen by Republican state lawmakers and four members chosen by Democratic state lawmakers, creating an even 4-4 split.
At the county level, five-member boards of elections would drop to four members, with two chosen by Republican state lawmakers and two chosen by Democratic state lawmakers. Currently, four county board members are appointed by the State Board of Elections and one is appointed by the governor.
Republicans argue the bill would prompt greater bipartisan consensus and bolster voter confidence in election administration.
“This bill will increase bipartisan cooperation between board members,” state Sen. Warren Daniel said in a news conference. “The new composition of the State Board of Elections would incentivize compromise between members, instead of giving members an opening to ram through partisan priorities.”
But the bill could also spark gridlock, as one of two partisan appointees would need to cross party lines in a way that likely harms their political party for many actions to be done, including consideration of new elections, candidate residency challenges and administrative policy changes.
“This is a power grab, plain and simple,” Senate Democratic leader Dan Blue said in a statement. “Republican lawmakers have tried and failed to take over state and local elections for years. It is not the role of the legislature to oversee our elections, it is an executive function. This bill would create more gridlock and uncertainty in our elections system.”
Current law requires four of five State Board of Elections members to vote in favor of a new election.
The changes in county and state board makeup would occur before the 2024 election. Current members onto the State Board of Elections would have to be renominated in order to continue holding office, according to Senate leader Phil Berger.
The proposal could also be unconstitutional, as the state Supreme Court has previously ruled in favor of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and Democratic Gov. Cooper in cases where Republicans sought to strip Cooper of his ability to appoint members on boards.
“The legislative Republican record is clear: Rig elections with gerrymandered districts, make it harder for people they disagree with to vote, and make it easier to throw those votes out,” Cooper said in a statement. “Now, they want to seize control of the State Board of Elections despite the Supreme Court repeatedly ruling that to be an unconstitutional power grab. The last thing our democracy needs is for our elections to be run by people who want to rig them for partisan gain.”
Berger said he believes the bill put forward on Monday is different than past legislation, given it would evenly split the political makeup of elections boards.
“We don’t think that the issue that would be brought forward with this legislation has been decided by the court,” Berger said.
Berger also said House Republicans are on board with the proposed new makeup of the State Board of Elections but are not yet supportive of changes to county boards,
“House leadership has indicated that they are in favor of the provisions of the bill that deal with the state board of elections,” Berger said. “I think we’re still having conversations about the local boards.”
In 2018, North Carolina voters overwhelmingly rejected an effort by Republican lawmakers to evenly split the makeup of the State Board of Elections along party lines.
The proposed constitutional amendment, which was opposed by 62% of voters, would’ve created an eight-member board split 4-4 politically. State lawmakers would’ve provided the governor with a list of nominees to choose from.
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