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State NAACP President Demands Resignation Of NC Elections Board Chief

(AP Photo/David Goldman)

The head of the North Carolina NAACP, along with election security advocates, sent a letter asking for a leadership change at the State Board of Elections. 

The group sent the letter to Governor Roy Cooper on Monday demanding that Board of Elections Chairman Damon Circosta step down.

Cooper appointed Circosta earlier this summer.

The NAACP accuses the board of being lax on cybersecurity in the wake of apparent foreign interference in elections. They also criticize the board for approving electronic voting machines that may be susceptible to hacking.

The News & Observer reports the letter was signed by Reverend Anthony Spearman, who presides over the statewide NAACP. Spearman is also a member of the Guilford County Board of Elections.

A number of high-profile election security activists also added their signatures.

In response, Cooper defended Circosta, saying that security remains “the number one priority of the State Board of Elections.”

Board spokesman Pat Gannon called the claims about electronic voting machines “inaccurate.”

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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