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.



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