North Carolina county officials drawing up their early voting plans for the November general election are contending with a new power player: State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican who assumed authority over the State Board of Elections after GOP legislators stripped that power from incoming Democratic Gov. Josh Stein during the lame-duck period following the 2024 election.
Boliek and his staff are soliciting information about counties' early voting plans and offering feedback on polling site locations, according to public meeting records, interviews with county officials and public documents shared with NBC News. The involvement has alarmed voting rights advocates who argue Boliek is overstepping his office's statutory authority in ways that could benefit Republicans in the battleground state.
What the Right Is Saying
Boliek defended his office's actions, saying the criticisms are driven by partisanship rather than legitimate concerns about election administration. 'It is not unusual at all for appointees to boards and commissions if they have questions or need guidance to reach out to the appointing office,' Boliek said in an interview. 'I think the complaint is the fact that the state auditor is a Republican. That's the only complaint I hear.'
Boliek stated his long-standing vision is to make it 'easy to vote, hard to cheat' and emphasized geographic diversity in polling site placement. 'The vision is to have efficient, commonsense voting locations across North Carolina to give people as equal access as possible,' he said. 'Anything that is complaining about where local boards put voting sites is purely political fever.'
In Jackson County, Republican Elections Board Chair Bill Thompson voted against a proposed early voting site at Western Carolina University after what Pavey described as pressure from state officials. Boliek said his office preferred using the county recreation center instead, which he called 'more efficient' and funded by local taxpayers. 'I do have an opinion in Jackson County, and I make that opinion very clear,' Boliek said.
The auditor's office has argued there is nothing improper about communicating with board members it appoints. According to statute, Boliek may appoint members of the State Board of Elections, oversee its budget and appoint chairs of county election boards. The law states the State Board should otherwise operate independently on matters such as early voting disputes that counties cannot resolve.
What the Left Is Saying
Terence Everitt, executive director of the North Carolina Voter Protection Alliance, a left-leaning voting rights organization, said the auditor's involvement goes beyond what was envisioned when the legislation passed two years ago. Everitt, who served as a Democratic state representative during the debate, argued that critics have documented a pattern of intervention. 'It is totally beyond what was envisioned and what was said on the floor of the Senate and the House when they were passing this law,' Everitt said.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein publicly criticized Boliek's actions in a post on X this month. 'It's outrageous that State Auditor Dave Boliek and the Auditor's Office pressured local members of the Jackson County Board of Elections to reject an early voting location at Western Carolina University,' Stein wrote, referring to allegations made by Republican board member Jay Pavey.
Jeff Carmon, a Democratic member of the State Board of Elections, expressed concern about partisan influence. 'Democrats have their goals and philosophies, and the Republicans have their goals and philosophy, but state authority never — I've never seen a state official put their 2 cents into what a local board should be doing,' Carmon said.
Karen Brinson Bell, former executive director of the State Board of Elections, noted that her interactions with officials during Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's administration did not include attempts to influence early voting site decisions. 'I was never contacted as a county director or a state director by anyone in the governor's office or other state official to try to influence early voting plans,' she said.
What the Numbers Show
North Carolina law grants counties discretion over early voting site selection within certain parameters. Counties may include Sunday voting hours if they choose to do so, and plans must be submitted for state review.
In Cabarrus County near Charlotte, the Elections Board delayed a vote after Boliek's office requested adding a polling site in Midland, a mostly white suburban town with fewer than 5,000 residents. In Randolph County, the auditor's office requested a polling site in Liberty, a rural area where Toyota recently opened a manufacturing plant.
Research indicates early voting proximity affects turnout. 'Study after study show that the closer someone lives to an early voting location, the more likely they are to cast a vote,' said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. 'If they make these changes, it will have an impact.'
The Jackson County Elections Board deadlocked over its plan, including whether to include Sunday hours and where to place sites. If the board cannot reach unanimous agreement by Monday's deadline, the matter goes to the State Board of Elections for a final decision.
The Bottom Line
The involvement of Boliek's office in local election planning represents a significant shift in how North Carolina administers its elections, with authority over what was traditionally a nonpartisan function now resting with an elected Republican official. County boards facing deadlines must navigate requests from both the auditor and state Democratic officials, creating competing pressures on decisions that historically remained local.
What to watch: Whether county plans submitted by Monday's deadline trigger State Board review in cases where local boards deadlock. Also worth monitoring is whether the State Board's Democratic members pursue investigation into Pavey's allegations of pressure, which a lawyer told them must first be opened by the board majority. The November elections will test how these dynamics affect voter access in a state that could again be competitive in federal and statewide races.