North Carolina State Board of Elections members, left to right, Jeff Carmon, Chairman Francis DeLuca, Stacy "Four" Eggers, Siohban Millen, and Robert Rucho. (Photo: Lynn Bonner)
North Carolina House Republicans want more than a third of existing staff positions at the state elections office to be converted to jobs for political appointees, eliciting criticism about the politicization of voting administration. The proposed changes were unveiled in a bill approved by the House Elections Law Committee Thursday morning.
Sweeping changes the bill proposes would prohibit state and local election board members from encouraging voting and open a way for foreign nationals to contribute to referendum campaigns. Another provision would require members of the military and citizens voting from other countries to provide photo ID or sign a document saying why they couldn’t send one.
Last year, the legislature cut the time voters would have to fix mistakes with their absentee or provisional ballots. If voters sign in at the wrong place or fail to provide an ID, they can contact local boards later to cure deficiencies. The new bill would give voters a little more time to send in a signature or photo, moving the deadline from Friday after Election Day to Monday after the election.
State Elections Director Sam Hayes told the House Elections Committee that House Bill 958 would allow him to reorganize the office the way he wants.
“These positions would just allow me the flexibility that I need to conduct that reorganization and make sure that folks that are surrounding me, certainly my direct reports and I, are aligned on the vision for the agency as I set forward,” he said. “But I want to assure everybody today that we are going to do this in a nonpartisan fashion.”
Democrats on the committee objected to having the main office overseeing elections convert 25 jobs to those where employees are hired and fired based on their politics.
“That is a purge of the agency is what that is,” said Rep. Phil Rubin (D-Wake).
Other than the director, the agency historically has had no political appointees because it should be the least partisan, he said. Employees who have worked in the office for years under Democratic and Republican administrations could lose their jobs for political reasons if the bill becomes law, he added.
The state Board of Elections switched from Democratic to Republican control under a new state law. The Republican board majority hired Hayes, who was House Speaker Destin Hall’s general counsel, to replace Karen Brinson Bell as executive director.
A rushed process
Democrats on the Elections Committee objected to voting on the bill because it was made public only hours before the General Assembly left for a weeks-long break.
Republicans decided to push ahead with the measure, even though time for discussion and debate was cut in half because Chairman Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke) said the committee could use the meeting room for only 30 minutes. He said the committee could not move to one of the many other vacant hearing rooms.
The short meeting left no time for public comment. Members of the public booed as the meeting ended. Some had planned to speak. The bill now moves the House Rules Committee, but since lawmakers have recessed the 2025 session for a summer break, no further action is expected in the near term. House Speaker Destin Hall (R- Caldwell) announced prior to adjourning the session Thursday that no voting sessions will be held in the House until the week of July 14, at the earliest.
New elections board staff weigh in
Hayes said after the meeting that he didn’t ask for 25 jobs to be converted.
“All I have asked for is some flexibility with some exempt positions,” he said. “I’m really looking at the leadership team — folks there that an agency head would rightfully expect to have around them.”
The bill would authorize a new signature verification pilot program for citizens voting by mail. The legislature mandated the first one in 2023.
Brian LiVecchi, Hayes’ chief of staff, told the committee Thursday that there had been a problem finding a vendor with the initial pilot.
“Essentially, the program never really did get off the ground,” he said.
The Board of Elections did have trouble finding a vendor. But it eventually hired one, conducted the signature verification pilot for the 2024 primaries, and reported the results, which revealed significant problems.
LiVecchi said after the meeting that he heard from some counties that the pilot could have been done better.
Other changes
The bill includes a way for non-citizens, overseas companies, and U.S. businesses that are majority-owned by non-citizens or overseas companies to make political contributions.
Federal law prohibits “foreign nationals” from making contributions in federal, state, or local elections.
The House bill would allow these contributions to referendum committees if the money was generated in the United States and the decisions were made by U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
The photo ID provisions for military and overseas voters are the outgrowth of GOP Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin’s lawsuits attempting to overturn his opponent’s election victory.
A rule the Board of Elections had passed unanimously exempted these voters from the state voter ID requirements. However, state appellate courts said military and overseas voters need to provide photo ID.
The bill also includes provisions that would prevent state and local election board members from making public statements promoting voter turnout.
Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina called the provision “a red flag.”
“Everyone in our democracy should be encouraging participation, and that’s not a partisan issue,” she said.
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