Graphic: NC State Board of Elections
A recent NC Board of Elections news release berating the head of the state Democratic Party took some observers by surprise.
The public face of the agency has historically remained above the political fray, focusing on voting rules and routine business. That changed Saturday, Nov. 1, the final day of voting in the 2025 municipal elections.
The online portal voters use to look at their sample ballots wasn’t working that day. North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton called out Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek, who was recently given a role in state elections.
The election board’s news release didn’t explain what happened to the portal, but castigated Clayton for spreading misinformation about the problem. It also praised state elections director Sam Hayes, and blamed the former director and Democratic leaders for not updating aging software.
“It really struck me as odd,” said Greg Flynn, a Democrat and former member of the Wake County Board of Elections. “The partisan sniping was out of character.”
Jason Tyson, the state board’s new director of external affairs, said in an interview that the statement was an appropriate response to misinformation.
Clayton said in her press release that the voter lookup outage had affected voting, which the elections staff denied.
“The integrity of the Board and integrity of elections was put into question,” Tyson said. “That may have been why you saw a certain type of response.”
Tyson, who started his job in the elections office two days later, said he heard that “there was a lot of discussion” internally about the press release. “A lot of thought was put into how to respond to this type of misinformation,” he said.
The press release was issued under state elections board spokesman Pat Gannon’s name. He is on paid leave, as Anderson Alerts first reported. Gannon has worked for the Board of Elections for more than nine years under state elections directors appointed by Democratic and Republican board majorities. Contacted last week, Gannon said he could not comment.
For years, North Carolina elections administration under Democratic and Republican governors avoided the appearance of partisanship. That patina is now wearing away.
Boliek, whom Republican legislators gave the power to appoint state board members and local board chairs, hired former state Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse as an elections liaison a few months ago. Boliek described one of Woodhouse’s duties as coordinating training for Republican board chairs.
North Carolina State Board of Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes (Photo: NCSBE.gov)The state board already conducts training for local elections officials. Boliek spokesman Randy Brechbiel couldn’t say last week how Woodhouse’s training sessions would differ from those the state provides.
Republican legislators moved the state board into Boliek’s office, but under state law, elections oversight remains with the Board of Elections and its administrators.
The change in party leadership at the agency also appears to have loosened the purse strings of Republican legislators. After years of giving the state elections board less money than requested, the legislature finally gave the elections board $15 million to complete the technology upgrades the former Democratic elections director sought for years.
They also included $1.2 million to allow Hayes, the new elections director, to hire staff exempt from the state Human Resources Act, meaning they can be political hires.
Hayes explained at the time that he wanted staff not for partisan purposes, but to be able to build his own team.
Tyson, who has worked for Republican executive officers, including former Gov. Pat McCrory and Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, is one of the new hires.
Tim Hoegemeyer, a former Republican candidate for state auditor who last worked for the state Department of Public Instruction for nearly five years, is the board’s new general counsel. He replaces Paul Cox, who left to join the law firm Poyner Spruill.
Leah Byers, a former aide to Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) is the board’s legislative liaison. Hise is a chairman of his chamber’s elections and budget committees.
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