Democrat Governor Secures Control of Election Board in NC Court Ruling Against GOP

A court has sided with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, in overturning a GOP-led law that would have made elections administration more bipartisan.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks during a briefing at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, N.C., on June 2, 2020. Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP

A three-judge panel has sided with North Carolina’s Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper to strike down a Republican-sponsored law that would have removed the governor’s authority to appoint members of the state’s board of elections and granted it to elected representatives in the state’s Legislature.

In a 7-page order filed on March 11 at North Carolina’s Wake County Superior Court, a panel of three judges—two Republicans and one Democrat—sided with Mr. Cooper in finding that the GOP-enacted law is unconstitutional.

Republicans billed the law, SB 749 or the No Partisan Advantage in Elections Act, as an election integrity measure that would establish bipartisan election boards instead of state and county boards being controlled by the party of the governor.

Mr. Cooper vetoed the measure, which was then overridden by North Carolina’s GOP-controlled General Assembly, and then the governor sued to block it.

Republicans have argued the new rules would establish evenly split election boards that would promote bipartisan election administration and consensus. Mr. Cooper and other opponents have contended the move would limit early voting and lead to election gridlock.

In his legal challenge, Mr. Cooper argued the new rules were unconstitutional because the executive branch is supposed to oversee elections administration.

In November, the same panel of judges temporarily blocked the new elections law so a trial could be held, and on March 11 finally sided with the governor.

‘Single-Party Control’

The judges wrote in their March 11 order that the Republican effort to remove Mr. Cooper’s authority to appoint members of state and county elections boards and hand it to the Legislature “infringes upon the Governor’s constitutional duties” because election boards carry out “executive functions.”

They also found that the law amounted to the “most stark and blatant removal of appointment power” from the governor since state Supreme Court rulings nearly a decade ago favored the state’s chief executive.

Under the now-blocked law, a bipartisan election board would have been established instead of state and county boards that are controlled by the party of the governor. It would have been a requirement for those boards to be appointed by an equal number of Republicans and Democrats to make eight members in total.

A similar proposal to overhaul North Carolina’s election boards was rejected by the state Supreme Court in 2018, and again by voters in a statewide ballot measure.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Cooper argued that the new law infringed on the governor’s executive powers in violation of the separation of powers, while failing to respect the principles of representative government.

In a statement reacting to the court ruling, Mr. Cooper praised the decision.

“Republican leaders should stop their efforts to control the ballot box and sow chaos before the November elections,” Mr. Cooper said in a statement. “Bipartisan courts and voters have repeatedly rejected these clearly unconstitutional attempts to seize control of elections.”

Lauren Horsch spokesperson for North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said that the decision amounts to an affirmation of partisan control of elections.

“For someone who claims to have concerns about election interference, Gov. Cooper is stopping at nothing to keep complete, single-party control of elections administration,” she told The Associated Press.

Republicans in North Carolina have for years tried to overhaul the state’s election boards, arguing that they were seeking to promote bipartisan consensus in elections and voting decisions.

They have been stymied in these efforts by court rulings and a constitutional amendment that failed to win voter support in 2018.

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina who advocated for SB 749 argued that, by requiring bipartisan consensus to make changes to voting policies, the measure would bring more fairness and balance to the state’s elections.

Since the 2020 election, other Republican-controlled legislatures have advocated for various measures that they argue reduce the chances of voter fraud, including shortening windows for returning mail ballots, banning or limiting the use of drop boxes, and criminalizing third-party ballot collection.

Former President Donald Trump, who has long claimed that the 2020 election was marred by voter fraud, won North Carolina in 2020 by a narrow margin of around 75,000 votes.

While North Carolina has voted Republican in all presidential contests since 1976 except President Barack Obama’s victory in 2008, Democrat strategists see the state’s changing demographics as an opportunity.

However, even though many Republicans agree that the state will most likely be competitive in the 2024 election cycle, they say the 2008 election will remain the exception rather than a new norm.