The State Board of Elections has hired new top staff members who have previously worked for Republican elected officials.
The hiring moves come after the legislature moved the agency into the state auditor's office and gave the board a Republican majority.
Elections board general counsel Paul Cox has been replaced by Tim Hoegemeyer, a former GOP candidate for state auditor who's worked in multiple state agencies, most recently the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Cox resigned Oct. 31 and joined the law firm Poyner Spruill last week.
Leah Byers will be the agency's new legislative liaison. She previously worked for Republican Sen. Ralph Hise, who leads election policy committees and redistricting.
The new director of external affairs is Jason Tyson, who had been the spokesman for Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and also worked for former Gov. Pat McCrory.
The elections board's longtime spokesman, Pat Gannon, has been on paid leave for the past week. Gannon's leave followed a Nov. 1 statement issued to the press that refenced comments by N.C. Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton and said she "is either ignorant or intentionally spreading misinformation."
The State Board of Elections' statement confirmed Clayton's claim that the agency's online voter information tool wasn't working on the final day of early voting, but the statement denied that the snafu impacted polling places.
Asked about Gannon's employment status, Tyson said in an email that "there is always a great deal of internal discussions and debate concerning how to handle misinformation. We must be especially careful with misinformation and how to correct it, regardless of the source."
Gannon's leave and Cox's departure were first reported by Anderson Alerts. Cox told the newsletter that the agency's new executive director, Sam Hayes, comes from "a clearly political background." Hayes previously served as general counsel to House Speaker Destin Hall.
The newly announced hires come after the agency hired former NCGOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse to work on election integrity programs. Prior to Cox's departure, deputy director of election administration Trena Velez retired this summer.
Previous elections board staffers came to the agency with less partisan resumes, although Cox had worked for Barack Obama's presidential campaign early in his career.
Bob Phillips, executive directory of the election advocacy group Common Cause North Carolina, said he's seen turnover at the elections board before when a new party takes the majority. "It's not unheard of when a change in administration occurs that there are changes that happen with staffing," he said. A Democratic majority appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper ousted GOP-appointed executive director Kim Strach in 2019, and the general counsel left soon after.
But former elections board executive director Karen Brinson Bell says the partisan hires — and the statement calling Clayton "ignorant" — are unusual.
"Election officials are the referees, and they are to remain above the fray," she told WUNC. "I think across all administrations, mine and those preceding mine ... we just didn't see this level of partisanship being injected into the process."
Hayes said in a news release that his new hires "have demonstrated a strong record of devoted service to the state and will bring a high level of knowledge in their respective areas."
Phillips says the new leadership at the State Board of Elections hasn't made any concerning policy changes at this point. "The proof will be in the pudding," he said. "We're looking, we're watching, and certainly when we see something that concerns us, we will speak out. But right now as they are just getting started, I don't know if there's any big red flag that I'm seeing."
Brinson Bell says she hopes her successors will refrain from lashing out at their critics, as they did with the statement about Clayton. "I would encourage some thicker skin," she said.
