After more than a month without a State Board of Elections, Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday named five people to the reconstituted board. Cooper named Democrats Stella Anderson of Boone, Jeff Carmon III of Durham and Bob Cordle of Charlotte and Republicans David C. Black of Concord and Ken Raymond of Winston-Salem to the five-member board. “North Carolinians deserve fair and honest elections, and I am confident this board will work to protect our electoral process,” Cooper said in a statement. The board via conference call Thursday afternoon and elected Cordle chairman and Anderson secretary. Another meeting will be held next week, at which time members will set a date for a hearing into the ongoing investigation of alleged absentee ballot fraud in the 9th Congressional District race.
A previous nine-member elections board was dissolved by court order in late December after a panel of state judges ruled lawmakers had overstepped their authority in the way they set it up and in making other changes to the state’s elections administration system in 2016.
The absence of the board has stalled the 9th District investigation.
Republican Mark Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by about 900 votes in the race, but the previous board refused to certify the results because of suspicious absentee voting results in Bladen and Robeson counties.
Full Article: New NC elections board named, allowing 9th District investigation to proceed :: WRAL.com.