Boliek appointments to the state election board mark a shift in power

North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek announced his appointments to the state’s Board of Elections (NCSBE) on Thursday after Wednesday’s ruling in which the North Carolina Court of Appeals blocked a lower court ruling favoring Gov. Josh Stein in his legal battle with state legislative leaders and Boliek over elections board appointments.

Stein is a Democrat. Boliek and legislative leaders are Republicans.

The order came from a unanimous, unnamed three-judge Appeals Court panel.

A provision in Senate Bill 382, which became law in December, allows the state auditor to make new elections board appointments and assume administrative oversight of the Board.

The law requires the state auditor to appoint members from lists of nominees provided by the state party chair of the two political parties with the highest number of registered affiliates.

Francis X. De Luca of Wilmington, Robert Anthony Rucho of Catawba County, and Stacy Clyde “Four” Eggers IV of Boone were all nominated by Jason Simmons, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.

De Luca is the former president of the Civitas Institute, which merged with the John Locke Foundation. He served in the US Marine Corps for 30 years and retired with the rank of Colonel, and was a previous member of the State Ethics Commission.

Rucho is a former member of the North Carolina State Senate, where he served for nearly 17 years. He led on various legislative issues, including tax reform and electoral policy.

Eggers is a lawyer and managing partner of Eggers Law Firm and currently serves on the NCSBE.

“Managing our elections is no small task. It takes time, dedication, and professionalism, ” Boliek said in a press release. “We need full confidence in our elections, and I’d like to thank these individuals for their willingness to serve.”

The members’ terms begin today, May 1.

“We are pleased to have tremendous individuals serving on the State Board of Elections and thank everyone who expressed interest in these crucial positions,” Simmons said in a press release. “These board members will ensure North Carolinians have fair, free, honest, and transparent administration of elections.”

The North Carolina Democratic Party submitted Stella Anderson, Siobhan Millen, Jeff Carmon, and J. Anthony “Andy” Penry’s names to Boliek’s office.

https://t.co/qdntadnFzE pic.twitter.com/WBHxtnrMg9

— Anderson Clayton☀️ (@abreezeclayton) May 1, 2025

Boliek announced late Thursday that he has nominated current Democratic members Millen and Carmon to the Board via email and on his X account.

When contacted by Carolina Journal, De Luca said he just found out about his appointment this morning and was honored to have been chosen.

On Wednesday, the Appeals Court issued an order called a writ of supersedeas blocking a three-judge panel’s April 23 decision in the legal dispute. The panel split 2-1 in ruling that the election administration changes spelled out in Senate Bill 382 violated the North Carolina Constitution. The trial court panel ruled that elections board appointments should remain with Stein.

That decision “is hereby stayed pending disposition of defendant-appellants’ appeal or until further order of this Court,” according to the latest Appeals Court order.

Stein responded on X/Twitter within minutes of the Appeals Court’s decision. He referenced Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s ongoing effort to challenge results in his 2024 race against appointed incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, the Democratic candidate.

“Jefferson Griffin lost,” Stein posted. “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.”

He added that the decision is the latest step in the partisan effort to steal a seat on the Supreme Court.

Stein’s response arrived the day after Boliek filed his own brief supporting legislators’ request. The auditor critiqued the three-judge panel’s approach to executive power.

griffin decision can’t be modified under current statute

“The simple answer is all the authority that the governor had just moved over to the auditor’s office,” Jim Stirling, research fellow at John Locke Foundation’s Civitas Center for Public Integrity, told Carolina Journal Thursday.” The only thing this ultimately changes is one appointment on the state board and one on the county boards. From this perspective, though, they can’t really modify the Griffin decision unless something in the statute allows them to.”

With the change in SB 382, Boliek can determine who he wants for the county boards of elections. However, for the State Board of Elections, he has to pick from the list of four names from each major party, and no party can have more than three members on the Board. He has to take two from the two largest parties. In theory, if he liked, he could have taken a third-party candidate to be the chair.

He added that there have been a lot of misconceptions that have come up with this case, including the fact that Boliek can’t control the Board of Elections, because it is a separate entity, and the Griffin situation is locked up in the courts, and cannot be reversed by a new state Board of Elections.

“Stein may be trying to make the angle that this is critical to the Supreme Court race, but very clearly in the proceedings, they do not get modified under a new board,” Stirling said. “They talked about that in the original part of (SB)382, that all prior proceedings hold prior to July 1.”

Even though Stein said he would appeal, it’s highly unlikely that the State Supreme Court will get involved in the debate based on the Cooper v Berger or Cooper 1, 2020 ruling on federal block grants.

“Unitary executive has been something that’s been dismissed by the court in 2020 when Cooper brought a lawsuit about him controlling federal block grants,” Stirling said. “I don’t see them allowing this kind of far-reaching idea that we have a unitary executive.”

critical staffing changes a possibility

But, he said, the one critical part of this situation that nobody is talking about is the possible change in staffing, and why it was so important for Republicans to have this ruling before the May 15 deadline for the Board of Elections to choose staff, including the executive director and general counsel.

“The reason why Republicans wanted this is that even if the Court of Appeals had ruled in their favor later on, the Supreme Court as well, there’s a chance that there would have been a Republican Board of Elections but a Democratic appointed staff,” Stirling told CJ. “So that’s why it was very critical for them to move this along as quickly as they did, not for the Griffin case, but because of the staffing.”

He said the other part of this would be because the NCSBE appoints the county boards.

“It would then be a question of after July 1, the only appointment that the governor and/or the auditor would have been the chair for those county boards,” Stirling said. “All the rest are determined by the Board of Elections, and then subsequently, their staff can also be chosen from that. So that would also have an impact on local county boards’ staffing choices as well.”

So, the Board of Elections has until May 15 to determine if the current Executive Director of the NCSBE, Karen Brinson Bell, will stay in her position, or if they will pick someone new, along with all staff attorneys, including general counsel.

Whoever is chosen is locked in for a two-year term unless they do something illegal. Then, in accordance with the State Personnel Act, they can be removed for cause.

Stirling added that the Democrats could have been better off accepting a bipartisan board, and there have been multiple instances where it could have been achieved, including the Cooper 1 ruling. Now, he said, it is going to be impossible going forward.

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