North Carolina Appeals Court Allows Republican Power Grab On State Election Board

In a win for Republicans, a North Carolina Appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday that a piece of legislation designed to strip power from state level elected Democrats and give Republicans control of the state election board in an overt power grab, can take effect. 

It’s the latest way in which North Carolina’s Republican-controlled state legislature is attempting to steal authority from Democrats — who hold the offices of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general — and gain control over election administration in the state. 

In December, then-newly elected North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein along with former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper filed a lawsuit against the GOP-controlled state legislature’s leadership, which at the time held a supermajority, over a piece of legislation known as SB382. The sweeping bill, which was presented as a hurricane relief bill, contained in it a provision that gave Republican state auditor Dave Boliek authority over the state’s five-person election board, attempting to strip that authority from the newly elected Democratic governor, Stein. 

No other state grants the state auditor, instead of the governor, this type of authority.

In a 2-1 decision late last month, North Carolina trial judges sided with Stein and Cooper and found the legislation was unconstitutional and, if implemented, would “interfere with the Governor’s constitutional duties.”

Wednesday’s ruling, however, blocked last month’s earlier lower court ruling, paving the way for Republicans to take over the state’s election board and complete its power grab. Boliek is expected to shift the board to a Republican majority. 

Stein has appealed the ruling to the State Supreme Court. 

This GOP power grab is happening against the backdrop of another ongoing Republican attempt to steal an election from a Democrat in the state. The Wednesday ruling could collide with the outcome of a Republican Supreme Court candidate’s attempt to overturn the results of a race the Democratic incumbent won.  

Republican state Supreme Court candidate and Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin, since his November 2024 loss, has been trying to steal the State Supreme Court race from Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, whose victory has been affirmed by two recounts. Jefferson has been trying to invalidate close to 60,000 ballots in the race, alleging without proof that these ballots are ineligible and should be thrown out due to supposed voter registration issues. 

In a post on X Wednesday, Stein called the decision the “latest step in the partisan effort to steal a seat on the Supreme Court.”

“Jefferson Griffin lost. When you lose, you work harder the next time to win. You do not try to change the rules after the election is over. Today’s Court of Appeals decision about the Board of Elections poses a threat to our democracy and the rule of law. The Supreme Court should not allow it to stand,” Stein wrote on X. 

“No emergency exists that can justify the Court of Appeals’ decision to interject itself at this point. The only plausible explanation is to permit the Republican State Auditor to appoint a new State Board of Elections that will try to overturn the results of the Supreme Court race,” added Stein.