Latest Challenge to North Carolina's Power-Shifting Law Focuses on State Elections Board Control

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: US News and World Report/AP

Dec. 23, 2024, at 6:44 p.m.


RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's current governor and his successor tacked on another lawsuit Monday disputing a key provision within a GOP law that erodes the powers of several incoming Democratic state leaders — the latest in a longstanding power struggle between North Carolina's executive and legislative branches over who controls the state's elections.

The lawsuit challenges one of the law's core power shifts that move the ability to appoint members of the North Carolina State Board of Elections from the governor's authority to the state auditor's office — which will be run by Republican Dave Boliek next year. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Gov.-elect Josh Stein, who currently serves as the state attorney general, filed the suit in Wake County Superior Court on Monday, saying in the complaint that the provision is unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers. The change to state election board appointments will take place next spring if it isn't blocked in court.

The state elections board would likely remain under GOP control for the next few years and, the partisan shift would trickle down to county boards as well. “We have had the same structure for our state board of elections for nearly a century and it has served North Carolina well, with fair and secure elections across our state through every cycle,” Cooper said in a news release Monday. “These blatantly partisan efforts to give control over elections boards to a newly elected Republican will create distrust in our elections process and serve no legitimate purpose.”

The suit from Cooper and Stein is the second challenge the pair has levied against the GOP-controlled state legislature concerning the law. Cooper and Stein are also contesting another provision that prevents the governor from choosing his State Highway Patrol commander.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2024-12-23/latest-challenge-to-north-carolinas-power-shifting-law-focuses-on-state-elections-board-control

[GB_RN]

1. I Hate 'Em All.

Every single one of the Reichwing douchebags in our state’s General Assembly are power mad, Christofascists. Since Cooper was elected back in ‘16, defeating their puppet governor, Pat McRory, these fascists have tried their damndest to steal powers from the governor’s office and consolidate it in their own hands.

The last time they tried subverting the NC Board of Elections, they got slapped down by the courts. This time, with the fascists having a majority on the state Supreme Court, I have no faith that they will uphold the state’s constitution; the current court, under newly elevated chief (in)justice Paul Newby, made a rare move, requested by the GA’s fascist leaders, deliberately undertaking a review of the prior court’s decision banning gerrymandering, and immediately overturned it. Newby and state Senate President Pro-temp’s son, (in)Justice Phil Berger, Junior, have no qualms rendering legally dubious…decisions…that adversely affect the majority of the state’s citizens, simply to hold onto power.

I’m not exaggerating, nor spewing hyperbole when I say that, “I hate ‘em all.” I hate every last one of the bastards with the heat of a thousand suns.