State Elections Board Member Involved In Disputed Voting Plan

A Republican member of the North Carolina elections board was deeply involved with a plan to eliminate a heavily Democratic voting site.  A judge has ruled that the plan was intended to suppress voter turnout.

The state Board of Elections is supposed to act as a neutral arbiter for county policy disputes.

Emails reviewed by the Associated Press show that board member Paul Foley worked behind the scenes with Watauga County GOP officials as they put together a plan to drop the voting site at Appalachian State University.

A lawsuit was filed, saying the plan burdened younger voters. A state superior court judge agreed, saying the closure was meant to "discourage student voting."

Foley is already under scrutiny in a separate investigation. In that case, the state agency is looking into political donations from an Oklahoma sweepstakes magnate represented by Foley's law firm. Details of that investigation were set to be released today.