Boliek moved quickly to dissolve the existing board that held a Democratic majority and appoint the new one. At stake is the Supreme Court seat that Republicans are trying to steal by disenfranchising military voters from heavily Democratic counties. The Republican board is likely to side with Jefferson Griffin and the GOP, putting partisanship above democracy.
Boliek named two highly partisan Republicans to the board. Francis DeLuca was President of the Civitas Institute, an arm of the conservative political infrastructure developed by Art Pope. Civitas was the essentially the political wing of the John Locke Foundation. Former Senator Bob Rucho was the architect of the 2011 gerrymandering that the courts described as targeting African American voters with “surgical precision.”
Republicans have been trying to take over the State Board of Elections for years. The legislature tried to grab the power to appoint the board, but the courts rebuffed them, saying the SBOE is part of the executive branch. Voters even rejected their attempt to strip the power from the governor when they soundly defeated a constitutional amendment by more than 60% of the vote. Now, a highly partisan Court of Appeals has put politics above the will of the people and the good of the state.
The court’s ruling will cause chaos and inconsistency in governing. In most states, the Secretary of State’s office oversees as elections, but North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is a Democrat. Republicans gave the power to the auditor because Boliek is a Republican.
We’re the only state in the nation where the auditor controls the makeup of the State Board of Elections. If Republicans lose the auditor’s seat, expect the GOP legislature to shift the power of appointment to some Republican-held Council of State seat. They’ll institute a version of whack-a-mole to prevent Democrats from having the power of appointment. Regardless, expect to see the amount of money in the next auditor’s race skyrocket.
North Carolina Republicans are quickly consolidating their power to eliminate the checks and balances envisioned by the Founding Fathers. They’ve successfully rigged legislative and Congressional districts to end competitive elections. Only one of fourteen Congressional elections in 2024 had a margin of less than 9% and Republicans hold ten of the seats, despite an equally divided state.
Now, they are giving themselves the permanent power control elections without interference. The state board will likely try to solidify control of the state supreme court by changing the rules after the election for military voters in Democratic counties. Those rule changes won’t apply to voters in other counties. You can’t get much more authoritarian than that.
As the old saying goes, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
