(The Center Square) – Stacy Eggers of Boone is the lone Republican holdover in appointments to the North Carolina State Board of Elections by state Auditor Dave Boliek.
In a Thursday announcement, the first-term Republican granted appointment authority by the General Assembly’s change of the law also chose Wilmington’s Francis DeLuca and Bob Rucho of Catawba County. Each was nominated by North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Jason Simmons.
The board’s other two members, expected to be Democrats, have not been announced at time of publication.
Per its website, the state board is charged with “administration of the elections process and campaign finance disclosure and compliance.” There is a limit of three members from the same political party. The 100 county boards also have five members each, and work in conjunction with the state board.
Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes, known also as Senate Bill 382 in the 2023-24 Legislature, was controversial. The 132-page document included 13 pages on Hurricane Helene relief worth $252 million, and the rest dove into authority changes including moving elections board appointment authority from the governor to the auditor.
An override of Gov. Roy Cooper was successful in both chambers.
Litigation ensued. A three-judge panel from the state Court of Appeals unanimously blocked a lower court’s ruling that favored Democratic Gov. Josh Stein retaining the appointment authority. Boliek followed a day later with the choices.
“My office,” Boliek said in a statement, “fulfills its statutory obligations as prescribed by law, including the General Assembly’s decision to transfer election board appointments to the state auditor.”
Eggers is a lawyer and managing partner of Eggers Law Firm. DeLuca is former president of the Civitas Institute, retired as a colonel from the U.S. Marines, and is a former member of the State Ethics Commission. Rucho was in the state Senate nearly 17 years.
