No oversight: County elections board graciously opts not to add to confusion

Doug Wiggins, Jimmy Hull and Bridget Cowan deserve this county's gratitude.

All three have volunteered to stay on as members of the Wayne County Board of Elections and are working toward facilitating the upcoming municipal and sanitary districts elections.

Why is that news?

Because our elected officials in Raleigh saw fit to do away with the state board of elections, reportedly as a check on Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's powers, and the new State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement installed by the GOP-led General Assembly currently sits vacant.

That is because Cooper has since challenged the legality of the erasure of the pre-existing state board of elections and a court battle is slated for Aug. 28 to decide the matter. He therefore hasn't appointed anyone to the new board, either.

Dane Beavers, whose service as director of the Wayne County Board of Elections is also appreciated, said at least 10 other counties across the state are without boards right now because the board members in each of those counties opted not to stay on without a state board in place.

Simply put, since the pre-existing board was dissolved, and the law made no mention of an interim board should the new "ethics" board be challenged and held up as is currently the case, there is no oversight at the state level of county boards of election.

So without Wiggins, board chair, Hull, board secretary -- both of whom are Republicans -- and board member Cowan, a Democrat, taking it upon themselves to continue to serve, Wayne County would not be able to appoint precinct officers and hold its upcoming elections.

Was there truly rampant election fraud to warrant these changes?

Is Cooper just boo-hooing because the GOP won't let him play by the same rules they allowed Pat McCrory to operate under?

The courts will decide, as with redistricting which also looms ahead of the upcoming municipal elections and in advance of next year's midterms.

But both sides better figure out how to play nice or this might be everybody's last, and in some cases only, term in office.

Published in Editorials on August 15, 2017 4:14 PM