Latest news with #SenateBill382
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ousted NC elections director led through chaos. Her replacement promises change
Karen Brinson Bell's departure from her post as North Carolina's top election official was hardly unexpected. For nearly a decade, lawmakers had sought to restructure the state's election apparatus to strip appointment power away from the governor — an office which Democrats have won in the last three elections despite Republicans maintaining strong majorities in the General Assembly. After five attempts were foiled by courts or voters, the sixth proved successful. The state's appellate courts allowed a new law to take effect transferring appointment power over the State Board of Elections away from the governor and toward the newly elected Republican auditor. So when the board's new Republican majority voted last month to replace Brinson Bell with Sam Hayes, a lawyer who had worked for the state's top lawmakers, it didn't come as a surprise to her. 'You know when you're in an appointed position that it can always come to an end,' Brinson Bell told The News & Observer in an interview. 'So I tried to treat each day of the job just like you're supposed to treat your life: you never know if you'll get another day, so just do with it what you can while you can.' With Brinson Bell gone and the board's partisan majority flipped for the first time in nearly a decade, major changes are likely coming to the way the state runs its elections. Procedures surrounding voter registration and military and overseas voting are in question. So is the agency's independence. And all of this comes on the heels of a dramatic six-month legal battle over the results of the 2024 state Supreme Court election. Hayes has promised change for the oft-embattled agency, but says it will not come at the expense of voters. 'We will focus not only on access to voting for eligible voters, but also on election integrity and making sure that voters trust the system. These two goals are not mutually exclusive,' he said in an email to The N&O. 'We can have secure elections that are also accessible to any eligible voter who wants to cast a ballot.' Brinson Bell's unceremonious ousting last month — in which the board refused to allow her to give a farewell speech — was not the cap she had envisioned to her 19-year career in elections. 'I wanted to give recognition to an incredible group of people at the state agency and across the state who really pulled off some very remarkable, unprecedented things and give that recognition as it was due,' she said about that moment. 'I think not only did it disrespect me, it disrespected the state staff and all 100 counties.' The vote came shortly after the state's Republican-dominated Court of Appeals allowed Senate Bill 382 — a wide-ranging power shift bill — to take effect. The bill stripped the governor of his power to appoint a majority of members to the State Board of Elections — a practice which has been in place for over a century. Instead, that power was given to the state auditor, Dave Boliek, the first Republican to win the office in 16 years. A trial court had ruled that the law was unconstitutional, but the appeals court reversed that ruling in an unsigned order that did not include the reasoning for the judges' decision. Within a week of that order, the new board had taken office and voted to remove Brinson Bell as one of its first actions. It was a dramatic end to a tenure that had already been far from ordinary. During her six years as director of the State Board of Elections, Brinson Bell contended with COVID, Hurricane Helene and an unprecedented effort to overturn the results of a Supreme Court election. Each disruption to the normal election process brought increased scrutiny to the board and to Brinson Bell herself, who Republican lawmakers frequently lambasted on social media or in hearings at the legislature. While state lawmakers had voiced concerns with the board before, hostilities reached a tipping point in 2020, Brinson Bell said. As President Donald Trump spread false claims of voter fraud nationwide, North Carolina dealt with its own challenges to voting. Prior to the election, an advocacy group had sued the elections board over its mail-in voting rules, arguing that voters needed more opportunities to get their ballots in given the COVID-19 pandemic. The board (which at the time had three Democrats and two Republicans) unanimously agreed to a settlement with the group that allowed the state to accept mail-in ballots up to nine days after the election and gave voters more opportunities to fix issues with their ballots. To this day, state lawmakers refer to this as a 'collusive settlement' and list it as one of the primary reasons the board needed to be changed. 'It's unfortunate, because it's sowing distrust in the system that obviously, fairly and securely got them elected — and they didn't question their results,' Brinson Bell said. 'So why are we questioning the results of other contests that were carried out the exact same way?' Only four years after organizing voting in a pandemic, Brinson Bell had to organize voting in the wake of a deadly hurricane that ravaged Western North Carolina. The storm was personal for Brinson Bell, who lived in the area for 20 years. 'I knew the creeks and the hollers and the ridge lines that were being affected, and I knew a lot of the people being affected,' she said. Shortly after the storm hit, the board approved a variety of rule changes to make voting easier for mountain residents — all of which were later adopted by the legislature. Despite Helene, voters in Western North Carolina actually outpaced the rest of the state in turnout during early voting. The board's response to Helene won the agency a national Clearinghouse Award from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission — its fourth such award during Brinson Bell's tenure. But shortly after a national election in the wake of a massive hurricane, Brinson Bell had one more unexpected complication to deal with, one that would not be resolved until the very day the board voted to oust her. After all outstanding mail-in and provisional ballots from the 2024 election were counted, Republican Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin came in 734 votes behind Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs. The state proceeded to two recounts, which are standard procedure for a close election such as this one. But both affirmed the result. Rather than ending there, a novel and chaotic legal battle erupted. Griffin, alongside the NC GOP, challenged the validity of over 65,000 ballots cast in the election. Targeting a variety of longstanding voting and registration practices, Griffin sought to toss out tens of thousands of votes — potentially flipping the race in his favor. After six months of courtroom fights, Griffin conceded the race after a federal judge appointed by Trump decisively ruled against him. His concession came just as the election board's new Republican majority prepared to vote on replacing Brinson Bell. She alluded to the challenge in her farewell message, telling the attendees who stuck around after the board adjourned that she hoped election workers could be 'rewarded for their work, rather than vilified by those who don't like the outcome.' 'I hope we return to a time when those who lost elections concede defeat rather than trying to tear down the entire election system and erode voter confidence,' she continued. 'And I hope we recognize that the conduct of elections is the very core of our democracy.' Since taking over as director last month, Hayes has mostly worked behind the scenes. The new board has yet to meet since it voted to select him as director, and Hayes has not issued any press releases — other than the one announcing his hire. But changes are sure to come to the state's election processes under his leadership. While Griffin's effort to overturn his election loss is dead, the board is working to implement changes to the state's election policies based on the arguments he made. Griffin's main challenge argued that over 60,000 voters who didn't have a driver's license or Social Security number in the state's registration database should have their votes thrown out. Those identification numbers are required by a federal law called the Help America Vote Act, which includes exceptions for voters who do not possess either form of identification. The Trump administration sued over the issue late last month, asking a judge to order the state to fix the discrepancy within 30 days and cancel the registrations of any voter who does not provide the missing identifications. Hayes said he plans to work with the administration to address the problem. 'We don't need a lawsuit to tell us what's right,' he said. Voters with missing identification numbers will receive a mailing from the board informing them of how to fix it, Hayes said. If they don't respond, they will be contacted by phone and email. Instead of outright canceling the registrations of voters who don't answer at that point, Hayes said the voters would be flagged in the system to provide the missing information the next time they show up to vote. While Brinson Bell agreed that earlier registration practices were unclear pertaining to the HAVA numbers, she said Griffin's challenge of the election results was unnecessary and damaged trust in elections. 'It conveys such inaccurate information (and) a lack of understanding,' she said about the challenges. 'Just by filing it, you're sowing those seeds of distrust.' But Hayes shifted blame to the former board. 'I think failing to collect the information required by HAVA undermined trust in the 2024 election results,' he said. Collecting that information won't be the only change under Hayes. Despite being exempt from the state's voter ID law in the past, military and overseas voters will have to provide identification in future elections to have their votes counted in state and local races. This was another issue Griffin had sued over, though he only challenged voters registered in Democratic-leaning counties for this part of his complaint. While his effort to have those ballots canceled was unsuccessful, courts agreed with him that these voters should be subject to the ID requirement going forward. Changes could also come from the state legislature through the budget process. The House's budget proposal would add seven new employees to the State Board of Elections who would be exempt from the State Human Resources Act — essentially making them political appointees. Brinson Bell said this move could chip away at the agency's independence. 'You're losing the established public servant who works for the state, who works for the voters,' she said. ' And now inserting someone or individuals who — that's not who they answer to — they answer to that person who appoints them.' Hayes confirmed that he requested this change be added to the House budget, saying it would give him staffing flexibility. It isn't the only staffing change he's made. Shortly after taking office, Hayes hired Brian LiVecchi as his chief of staff — a position that had not previously existed in the agency. LiVecchi previously served as chief of staff to former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. He resigned in the midst of Robinson's gubernatorial campaign after bombshell reporting from CNN tied Robinson to a series of sexually explicit and disturbing online comments. Hayes said that most other agencies have a chief of staff and that he chose LiVecchi because he has a 'wealth of experience in election law and administration that will be of great benefit to the agency.' Amid this change, an audit is likely coming. Hayes said he asked Boliek — who appointed the board's members — to conduct a performance audit of the agency. 'It will help us determine where we need to spend energy and resources in the future to ensure we are efficiently fulfilling the many duties and responsibilities of this agency and providing the best possible service to voters, candidates, and the 100 county boards of elections,' Hayes said. As for Brinson Bell, she plans to continue working on elections — though she isn't sure exactly how, yet. Her husband calls her 'the busiest unemployed person he's ever met,' she said, as she continues to connect with election directors across the country and share advice on best practices. To her successor, Brinson Bell also has one piece of advice as he assumes the role of elections director for one of the country's most consequential swing states. 'He should never forget that he is now the caretaker of democracy,' she said. 'And that's a pretty big charge.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC state auditor launching investigation into Charlotte City Council's reported settlement to CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings
RALEIGH, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The state auditor is launching an investigation of the reported six-figure settlement made between the Charlotte City Council and Police Chief Johnny Jennings. In a letter written Tuesday to Mayor Vi Lyles, Auditor Dave Boliek says that the people of Charlotte – and his office — have a right to know the details. Reports say the city paid Jennings a six-figure settlement months after former council member Tariq Bokhari allegedly threatened to 'ruin his career.' 'Constituent requests and recent reporting involving the Charlotte City Council have raised serious concerns regarding the potential disbursement of public dollars outside of the public view,' the letter reads. Following the alleged settlement, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police has prepared to make a no-confidence vote against Jennings, and local Republicans asked Lyles to step down. 'While answers to some of the more pressing questions could be provided through quick release of information from your office – which I strongly encourage – there remains a list of unknowns regarding the potential settlement or payout to the Police Chief,' Boliek continues. 'On behalf of the citizens of North Carolina and the … people who call Charlotte home, the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor will be investigating this matter.' Boliek suggests the settlement may have been between $100,000 to $300,000. He says the office is seeking the following information: How much money was paid in the potential settlement Whether a payment exists Where the money came from 'Even if the payment was worth one penny, it should be disclosed to the public in a timely and transparent matter,' Boliek said. 'There is no tax dollar free from public scrutiny.' All council members — minus newly selected member Edwin Peacock — and City Manager Marcus Jones are also recipients of the letter. Boliek, a Republican elected last November, recently announced five new members to the State Board of Elections, a power he gained last month via the controversial Senate Bill 382. It was previously held by the governor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Governor Stein blasts court decision on appointment power
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein blasted a court ruling that stripped some of his appointment powers during an interview with Queen City News Thursday morning. 'There's really absolutely no justification other than crass partisan motivation for them to intervene at this point,' said Stein. Late Wednesday, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina ruled that Senate Bill 382 could be enacted. The legislation, passed by the General Assembly last year, gave the state auditor, a Republican, the power to appoint members to the state Board of Elections, a power traditionally held by the governor. By Thursday afternoon, Republicans had assumed a 3-2 control over the board. Stein argued it would assist the GOP in their efforts to overturn the result of a state supreme court race that Stein believes was decided many months ago. North Carolina's Republican Party argued the board had become too partisan under Democratic control. 'The actions of the current board majority placed partisanship and politics over performance. Under Auditor Boliek, North Carolinians will have confidence our votes are counted with accuracy, consistency, and integrity,' said Matt Mercer, spokesperson for the NC GOP. Stein intends to appeal to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. On the topic of Helene recovery, Stein is also waiting to hear back from the White House after he appealed a rejection by FEMA to continue cost sharing 100 percent of the damage caused by the hurricane. He contends the amount of damage seen puts Helene on par with Hurricanes Katrina and Ike. 'This clearly fits that same degree, that same level of storm damage. I've asked the President to overrule FEMA, and I'm hopeful that he will do so,' said Stein. At the state level, North Carolina has also rolled out a new $55 million grant program to help local governments support small businesses. Stein says grant money could be used to repair broadband connections, sidewalks, and even sewer and water infrastructure. Grants can be as much as $1 million. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC court clears way for GOP auditor to take election powers from Gov. Stein
The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Wednesday cleared the way for a law stripping election oversight power away from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to go into effect, reversing the order of a lower court which had ruled it unconstitutional. State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican, is now poised to gain control over the State Board of Elections on Thursday, likely flipping the powerful board's partisan majority for the first time since 2017. The court's decision, which was delivered by a unanimous but unnamed three-judge panel, upholds election changes passed in Senate Bill 382, a law Republican legislators enacted in the final days of their veto-proof supermajority in the General Assembly. While the court did not fully rule on the merits of the case, they issued a stay blocking the lower court's order, which in practical terms will allow the law to take effect. The court did not hold arguments in the case and issued its decision just five days after Republican leaders asked for a stay. Stein immediately appealed the ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court, asking justices to intervene quickly and halt the decision before Boliek is able to replace election board members — ending their terms two years early. The power shift upends the practice in place for over a century in which the governor alone has had the power to appoint members of election boards. That arrangement also allows the governor to appoint a 3-2 majority of members from their own party. In a statement, Stein suggested the ruling was a 'threat to our democracy' and that Republicans would use their new influence over elections to assist Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin in overturning his narrow loss in the 2024 state Supreme Court race. 'I fear that this decision is the latest step in the partisan effort to steal a seat on the Supreme Court,' he said. '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.' The state Republican Party said in a statement that the power shift would help make sure elections are 'fair, free, honest, and transparent.' 'The actions of the current board majority placed partisanship and politics over performance,' the NCGOP statement says. 'Under Auditor Boliek, North Carolinians will have confidence our votes are counted with accuracy, consistency, and integrity.' Republican state lawmakers have tried multiple times to shift this process in their favor since Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, won election in 2016. All of their previous attempts were either blocked by courts or rejected by voters when proposed as a constitutional amendment. But rather than giving the appointment power to themselves, as lawmakers have attempted to do in the past, SB 382 shifts it to the auditor, a move they argue keeps the power within the executive branch and therefore does not violate the state constitution. It is an entirely unique setup, with no other state auditor in the entire country having similar powers over elections. In a 2-1 ruling earlier this month, a Republican and Democratic judge in Wake County Superior Court agreed with Stein that the power shift was unconstitutional. 'The Constitution prevents the legislature from unreasonably disturbing the vesting of 'the executive power' in the governor or the governor's obligation to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,' the majority opinion, authored by Judges Edwin Wilson and Lori Hamilton, said.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
N.C. Treasurer names conservative climate skeptic to state Utilities Commission
Image: NC Utilities Commission - This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Donald van der Vaart—the state's former environment secretary and a climate skeptic who was shortlisted for EPA administrator during the first Trump administration—has been appointed to the North Carolina Utilities Commission by Republican Treasurer Brad Briner. Van der Vaart started his career in state government as a 20-year employee in the Division of Air Quality and was promoted to secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in 2015. He was a proponent of offshore drilling and fracking. The Utilities Commission regulates the rates and services of utilities like Duke Energy and companies that provide gas, electricity and drinking water. In that role, the commission oversees the state's transition to renewable energy and is also responsible for ensuring the safety of natural gas pipelines. 'North Carolinians need a strong voice on the North Carolina Utilities Commission,' Briner said in a press release. 'Don provides that voice, and his expertise and leadership will ensure that the citizens of North Carolina have access to low-cost, reliable energy.' The appointment still must be approved by the state House and Senate. Many environmental advocates oppose the appointment. Dan Crawford, director of government relations for the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, called van der Vaart's appointment 'short sighted and a violation of the public trust. This appointment flies in the face of science and clean energy progress. It's like letting an arsonist guard the fire station.' Van der Vaart would earn roughly $150,000 as a utilities commissioner. 'I am deeply honored by Treasurer Briner's confidence in me,' van der Vaart said in the press release. 'I look forward to working to ensure that North Carolina's energy future remains reliable, affordable, and ever cleaner—safeguarding both our prosperity and our environment.' The treasurer did not have appointment power to the Utilities Commission until December, when the state legislature passed Senate Bill 382. The measure was ostensibly a disaster relief bill for communities devastated by Hurricane Helene, but also contained unrelated provisions that conservative lawmakers favored. Then-Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the bill, but the Republican-controlled legislature overrode it. Before SB 382, the governor appointed the majority of the Utilities Commission—three seats. After the bill became law, one of those appointments went to the state treasurer. The bill also shrunk the membership from seven to five, starting in July: two appointments by the governor, one by the state treasurer and one each to the House and Senate leadership. The treasurer and legislative leaders are all Republicans, meaning the GOP will have control of the new five-member commission. Earlier this month Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat elected in November, petitioned a Wake County court for a temporary restraining order to thwart the treasurer's appointment power, arguing it violates the state Constitution. The filing names House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate President Pro Temp Phil Berger as defendants. A spokesperson for the governor's office told Inside Climate News that 'the parties are currently trying to work out a briefing schedule to get this dispute resolved as expeditiously as possible so that the Governor can continue the work that voters elected him to do.' When Cooper was elected governor in 2016, van der Vaart could have lost his job as a political appointee. Instead, van der Vaart used his statutory authority to demote himself to a middle management position in the Division of Air Quality. He held that post for a year until he co-authored a lengthy opinion piece in a national environmental law journal calling for the elimination of a key air quality rule, an opinion that contradicted the stance of the agency. Shortly after then-DEQ Secretary Michael Regan placed van der Vaart on administrative leave, he resigned. When Donald Trump won election in 2016, van der Vaart wrote him a congratulatory letter that earned him consideration for EPA administrator. In part, the letter read: 'We must put an end to the idea that more regulation is always good, and instead allow state and local experts to improve the environment.' The top EPA post went instead to Scott Pruitt, who named van der Vaart to the EPA's Science Advisory Board. In a 2018 opinion piece for The Hill, van der Vaart wrote that some environmental groups were 'serving as proxies for the Russians,' and to protect the environment Trump should investigate those allegations. Van der Vaart returned to state government in 2019 when Berger, the State Senate leader, appointed him to the Environmental Management Commission. The EMC makes environmental rules that DEQ must follow. His ascent continued when the chief justice of the state Supreme Court named him the chief administrative law judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings. The quasi-judicial agency presides over contested cases of administrative law. He has commonly assigned himself cases involving DEQ and has often ruled against the agency. If van der Vaart joins the Utilities Commission, he would resign his judgeship.
