The North Carolina State Board of Elections ousted Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell after clinching a GOP majority for the first time in about 10 years.
Brinson Bell, who had served in the position since 2019, was replaced by Sam Hayes, the top lawyer for GOP state House Speaker Destin Hall.
“While I would have liked to have continued to serve the county boards of elections and the voters of North Carolina in this capacity, the state board has made a different decision,” Brinson Bell said after Wednesday’s meeting, where the new GOP-majority board met for the first time. The election board denied her the opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting following the 3-2 vote along party lines ousting her.
Brinson Bell was credited by many for her efforts managing the 2024 elections after Hurricane Helene hit the state; however, she has been in the poor graces of Republicans since the 2020 election when she extended the deadline to receive postmarked ballots. Siobhan O’Duffy, a Democratic election board member, said Brinson Bell’s ousting “is a shabby way to treat a nationally admired executive election director.”
Brinson Bell’s ousting comes following the passage of a December 2024 law that stripped the governor’s powers in appointing election board members, granting the power instead to the state auditor.
Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) opposed the law, but the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld it, and soon after, Republican state auditor Dave Boliek appointed three Republican board members to give them a majority.
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The chairman of the new elections board, Republican Francis De Luca, said his focus will be to “build and maintain the public’s confidence in elections. We want to follow the law, and make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
Meanwhile, Republican Jefferson Griffin conceded on Wednesday the North Carolina Supreme Court race after mounting a monthslong legal challenge. Incumbent Justice Alison Riggs beat Griffin by only 734 votes.
Hayes, the new executive director of elections, will begin his two year term on May 15.