The Wake County Democratic Party wasn’t the only organization experiencing Board of Election nomination headaches this year. The Forsyth County Democratic Party is in an ongoing spat with the State Board of Elections over their nominees.
According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the State Board decided to take the extraordinary step of appointing the Forsyth Democratic Party’s 2nd and 3rd choices instead of reinstating the number 1 person on the Democrat’s list – incumbent Chairman Eric Elliott.
Elliot asserts that he followed the law during the early voting period prior to Election Day in 2008 when the State Board wanted to change already publicized voting times and distribute additional information on straight-ticket voting. In the matter of distributing handouts about straight party voting, Elliott sided with the Republican member and refused to change procedure midway through voting.
And, when told to hold meetings to discuss extending early voting hours, Elliot hesitated because of the requirement to give a 48 hour public notice for all but emergency meetings. Ultimately the meeting was held and this time Elliot voted with the Democratic member and voting hours were extended on November 1.
The fight is not over though; the newest appointed Democratic member has declined to serve and the Forsyth County Democratic Party is urging the State Board to reconsider.
This local skirmish illuminates some of the problems of a one-party system.
We ALL KNOW why the legislature does not include the presidential race in straight party voting. In the past, local politicians really didn’t care whether we voted for President or not (historically, North Carolinians vote for the Republican Presidential candidate).
Until last year North Carolina’s lawmakers and State Board of Elections hoped voters would only vote Republican at the Presidential level and not go on to vote the straight Republican ticket. But in 2008 they feared voters would ONLY vote for Obama and not vote the Democratic straight ticket. Only then did the State Board of Elections believe it was necessary to educate the voters on this ridiculous method of voting.
Were these last minute changes absolutely necessary? Or does the State Board of Elections have a tendency toward knee jerk reactions because they answer only to the whims and worries of the Party who appoints the majority.
The State Board of Elections voted 5-0 (that means republicans voted with democrats) not to reappoint Eric Elliott to the Forsyth County BoE. This was because Forsyth’s BoE ignored 2 TWO directives sent down by the State Board. These TWO directives went to all 100 counties. Only ONE county chose to ignore the two directives and even voted to disregard the directives. There’s nothing partisan about that.
At the county level, the one republican BoE member and one democrat BoE member voted to extend early voting hours. The GOP member called his county party chair before making that vote.
Facts sometimes get in the way of argument. Local BOEs in 2008 were only required not to break the law, not to follow every SBOE directive. As explained in the article linked within this post, Elliott followed the advice of county attorneys who correctly ruled that SBOE directives violated state law in creating two classes of voters and in asking for an instant emergency meeting. Forsyth was not the only county to demur on these requests, just the only county sued for doing so. It is not until 2009 and the passage of HB 908 that the SBOE gets a clear path to issue mandatory political orders in addition to asking boards to follow the law. And good luck to future law-abiding board members who discover the legislature has made political maneuvering after an election starts – by both parties – an equal and sometimes opposing task to following election law. If North Carolina is 2012’s Florida, you heard it hear first.