Divided court throws out legislative changes to NC elections board
Judges in Cooper v. Berger find legislature usurped governor's power, but no changes until after November elections.
Posted — UpdatedBut the court also delayed its order in the long-running case, allowing the current board to remain in place through the November elections.
The General Assembly's Republican majority can appeal the decision, though North Carolina voters could render the issue moot if they approve a GOP-backed amendment to the state constitution this November that would put lawmakers in charge of naming members to the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.
Superior Court Judges Todd Burke and Jesse Caldwell joined together to declare unconstitutional a series of changes lawmakers implemented in March. Judge Jeff Foster dissented, saying he felt the questions at issue were political ones that should be left up to the legislative process, not the courts.
Among the panel's findings:
- That it's unconstitutional to require that the chairs of state and local election boards must be from the political party with the second most registered voters – currently the Republican Party – in years with presidential and gubernatorial elections as the law does now.
- That the way the legislature appointed the state board's executive director, and forbade the governor from removing her until at least 2019, was unconstitutional. The director is Kim Westbrook Strach, who has been in the position since former Gov. Pat McCrory's administration. Her husband is a lead attorney for Republican legislators in a series of redistricting lawsuits.
- That the governor wasn't left enough power to remove state board members.
Cooper challenged four individual provisions, and the act as a whole, and he won on both arguments.
The decision is the latest chapter in a dispute that stretches back to before Cooper even took office and has gone before the state Supreme Court twice.
Lawmakers returned this year to add a ninth, unaffiliated member to the board, but Cooper once again challenged the makeup, leading to the latest ruling.
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