The Power Shift: Politics Trump Process in a Pivotal State
North Carolina’s political landscape has shifted dramatically—and not by accident. In a stunning party-line vote, the newly Republican-dominated State Board of Elections ousted one of the nation’s most respected nonpartisan election directors, Karen Brinson Bell, ending her tenure with barely a word of thanks. Her replacement, Sam Hayes, isn’t just a fresh face; he’s a lawyer who previously worked hand in glove with the state’s most powerful Republican lawmakers—hardly the apolitical choice for a post entrusted with safeguarding democracy in a key swing state.
This seismic shakeup wasn’t spontaneous. It follows the passage of controversial 2024 legislation that systematically transferred appointment authority for the Board from Democratic Governor Josh Stein to Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek. Democracy is about the people’s voice—not legislative sneak attacks. Yet here we are: the GOP majority, thanks to this law, immediately flexed its muscle by unseating Brinson Bell and installing Hayes. And all of this is playing out against the backdrop of a coming presidential election cycle where free and fair administration of elections will again be under intense national scrutiny.
From Service to Dismissal: Brinson Bell’s Legacy and the Board’s New Direction
For nearly five years, Brinson Bell helmed North Carolina’s elections through a minefield: record turnout amid a pandemic, hurricane recovery, and a rising tide of disinformation. She received national recognition for both her preparedness and her steady hand, weathering challenges few election directors face in a lifetime. According to the National Association of State Election Directors, her “creative, nonpartisan solutions” during crises have been studied nationwide.
Yet Republican lawmakers held a grudge. Their animus centered on a 2020 election legal settlement—Brinson Bell’s board extended the deadline for valid mail ballots postmarked by Election Day, a move designed to ensure voters would not be disenfranchised by COVID-19 mail delays. Republican leaders decried it as executive overreach and spent years lambasting her, despite courts routinely upholding the legality of such extensions amid emergencies. Critics might call this partisan retribution, thinly disguised as a management refresh.
The board majority’s first order of business: ousting Brinson Bell without letting her address the assembled body and setting the stage for their declared mission to “restore public confidence.” Francis De Luca, a new Republican appointee, took over as chair by the same 3-2 partisan margin that characterized the rest of the proceedings. Democratic board members voiced procedural objections, nominating Stacy Eggers (himself a Republican) for chair, only to have Eggers decline. The message was unambiguous: the GOP majority came prepared for total control.
Sam Hayes, the new executive director, boasts a résumé loaded with Republican credentials, having served as general counsel to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and to the Republican state treasurer, before running (unsuccessfully) in the 2020 GOP state attorney general primary. He’s no election novice, but with his background, can anyone genuinely claim his appointment is “routine” or strictly merit-based? State Auditor Boliek, a Republican himself, praised Hayes’ “deep experience in law and government,” but left unsaid how that experience will guard—not game—the state’s election machinery.
Brinson Bell’s parting plea still echoes: “Let us return to a time when we support election workers, and when the losing candidate concedes defeat rather than undermining the people’s will.”
What’s Really at Stake: Partisan Power Plays, Public Confidence, and American Democracy
Why does all this matter? Because North Carolina’s elections, like those in many battleground states, have become the focus of a broader struggle over who counts, who counts the votes, and who ultimately wields the power to decide. When election boards are stocked not with impartial experts but with partisan loyalists, the public’s faith in the process is the first casualty. According to a 2023 Pew Research study, trust in U.S. elections has reached historic lows, with partisan interference cited as a principal driver.
One might recall the not-so-distant memory of 2020, when then-President Trump and his allies spread falsehoods about “rigged” elections and pressured Republican officials to overturn certified results. The cautionary tale: Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, resisted immense pressure to manipulate his state’s outcome, defending the sanctity of every legal vote. North Carolina has now installed a loyalist, untested by crisis but promoted by politicians intent on controlling the levers of democracy.
The Republican argument—repeated with monotonous certainty—is that these moves are about restoring voter confidence and thwarting fraud. But study after study, including thorough investigations from the Brennan Center for Justice, find that proven election fraud is vanishingly rare, while efforts to “prevent it” often disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters, the elderly, and students, constituencies that tend to lean Democratic.
Beyond that, the optics are unmistakable: reshuffling the leadership of a professionalized elections board with partisan appointees—overriding the sitting governor’s choices—undermines any pretense of neutrality. How can North Carolinians trust the fairness of their vote when the referees are so clearly chosen to favor one team?
Learning from History: The Fragile Future of Election Integrity
History warns us. Purges of nonpartisan officials haven’t built stronger democracies; they’ve weakened them, sometimes irreversibly. Consider the post-2013 playbook of voter suppression laws that followed the gutting of the Voting Rights Act—disproportionately targeting Black and Brown voters under the guise of “reform.” According to Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky, democracies don’t collapse overnight; they’re hollowed out slowly, through seemingly technical moves and bureaucratic reshuffles that gradually erode the institutions designed to safeguard the people’s will.
Brinson Bell’s call for support—of both election workers and the democratic tradition—resonates all the more as North Carolina careens toward another high-stakes election. A closer look reveals that democracy’s true defenders aren’t the partisans who tear down checks and balances, but the public servants who weather crisis after crisis to ensure every voice is heard. Will North Carolinians—and by extension, the American people—demand more than empty promises and theatre? Or will we accept a future where elections are managed at the whim of whichever party rewrites the rules?
The answer matters. Not just for 2024, but for the future of American democracy itself.
