Republican members of the Jackson County Board of Elections said they were pressured by party and state leaders to vote against a plan to have a campus-based early voting site at Western Carolina University.
At a meeting Tuesday morning in Sylva, the board voted 3-1 to advance a plan for the early voting site on WCU’s campus.
Republican Board Chair Bill Thompson confirmed to the board that he had received word from the state auditor’s office about how he should vote.
Democratic Board Member Roy Osborn asked Thompson directly, “Are you getting any input, for example, from the state auditor’s office?” Thompson responded, “Yes.”
“Are you making that transparent to the whole board?” Osborn asked.
“Yes. They want it to stay off campus,” Thompson replied. Throughout the meeting, Thompson expressed that he supported a voting location off campus because of his discussions with state officials.
“I know where everybody’s vote is, and I’m probably the lone holdout, well I am the lone holdout and it’s pressure from above,” he said.
Democratic Board member Roy Osborn pushed Thompson later in the meeting to say who he was speaking with about this decision.
“You’re going to have lines for the first time in my memory, and I’ve been working this 15 years. So this is what we’re doing because of a mandate and you’re going to have to stand up and say this is a mandate from Raleigh, not a mandate from just you because this is not you anymore,” Osborn said. “I want you to stand up and say this is a mandate from the auditor’s office, from the state board of elections.”
“I will state that. Let’s get it out in the open on the record. I’m going to vote for the rec center, period, and it will go to Raleigh, and I will wash my hands of it,” Thompson said.
“I want you to say I’m going to vote for the rec center because I’ve been told to by the state auditor’s office,” Obsborn said.
“I’ve been asked to and I’m going to. That’s it,” Thompson said.
Another Republican member, Jay Pavey, said he received “pressure from Raleigh, and I personally don’t care.”
“I know where the pressure’s coming from because it’s been relayed to me. I’ve been told that if I don’t vote a particular way that they will do whatever they have to do to remove me from the board,” Pavey said. “Okay? And I’m sorry. I’ve got words for that. But I’m going to vote for the HHS because for me, it’s a no-brainer.”
He voted with Osborn and Democrat Betsy Swift in favor of the voting site at the Health and Human Sciences building on campus.
“My vote is not for a party. It’s not against the party. It is for the residents of Jackson County. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the HHS is the better facility,” Pavey said. The site at Western Carolina’s Health and Human Sciences building would serve more people. Pavey said that “five to six times as many people” are expected to vote in the midterm election compared to the previous primary.
Pavey said he was voting despite the pressure from leaders to keep the polling site off campus.
“I think we need to settle where we want to have our elections and be strong enough to stand up to whatever pressures we receive,” Pavey said. “I know that I’m bucking my party by this, and I may very well be a one-term person on the board of elections but if that’s it, that’s fine. I will stand on this hill, and I will die on this hill.”
Thompson said the early voting site should be at the Recreation Center. He said Democratic power players were behind the push to put the polling place on campus at the Health and Human Sciences Building.
“There’s a big push there, and I mean there’s a big push to have it on campus. Whenever you get sued by one of the largest Democrat lawyers in the country, Marc Elias. There’s big money behind this. There’s major powers behind this. I don’t like being where I’m sitting,” Thompson said.
Earlier this year, students from three universities sued the Jackson County Board along with the Guilford County Board over primary early voting plans that did not include any polling sites on campuses. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed. Because the vote at the local level was not unanimous, the State Board of Elections made the determination to locate the site at the Cullowhee Recreation Center, almost two miles from the previous location on campus at the A.K. Hinds University Center.
NC Local spoke with Thompson after the meeting, and he confirmed that he has spoken with the State Auditor’s office, State Board of Elections and local Republican Party about the site.
“I told them I’d hold the line. They asked me. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ And I did. And local party as well. I’m not a happy camper,” Thompson said.
During the meeting, he advocated for the Cullowhee Rec Center as the “most well-known” location and said that the Health and Human Science building was less “accessible” because of the stairs from the lower parking level. Allen confirmed that the HHS building is ADA accessible.
At the meeting, Osborn asked if partisan decisions were illegal.
“I’m not sure we’re allowed to be partisan. And yet we’re obviously displaying huge amounts of partisanship,” Obsorn said.
Jackson Board of Elections Director Amanda Allen explained at the meeting that members are not allowed to make “partisan decisions” according to their oath and state handbook. She shared those sources with NC Local after the meeting: The SBE has a webpage re: County Boards of Elections. It includes the oath they take, duties and resources for members.
She also shared the SBE-developed “County Board Member Manual.” This guide includes a do’s and don’ts for Board members including, “Take care that your statements and conduct during board meetings reflect professionalism, integrity, nonpartisanship, and collegiality.”
A fifth member of the Board, Republican Wes Hanemayer, resigned last week, Board of Elections Director Amanda Allen announced at the meeting.
“I want to go on record saying I appreciated his service. He will be missed,” Allen said. She explained that the Jackson County GOP would nominate a replacement who would be approved by the state party and appointed by the State Board of Elections at their next meeting. Swift volunteered to be secretary for the interim until another board member could be appointed.
After the meeting Thompson implied that this pressure was the reason that Hanemeyer resigned.
“If I was smart I’d have probably done what Wes did, but I’m not. I’m going to stand and go through it, whatever it is and see it through,” Thompson told NC Local.
Thompson said he wasn’t concerned about being re-appointed to the board of elections or any other repercussions from the pressure to vote for the off-campus location. He said he remained dedicated to the party.
“It’s like a continuing negotiation. That’s the way I would put it. Not the best place to be in. But that’s where we are,” he said. “That makes me whatever. You can put it in the paper, I don’t care what. I’ll go home and work on my old cars, I’ll be okay.”
Local board chairs are appointed by the auditor’s office. Under state law, the other four local board members are appointed by the state board: two Democrats and two Republicans. The state chairs of each party recommend three registered voters to the State Board.
A source familiar with the issue at the auditor’s office and state Republican party told NC Local that there had been conversations about the issue with their appointees, including concerns about the WCU polling location as it has not been used as a voting site in the past.
Questions of “neutrality”
The proposed plan includes four early voting sites: in Cashiers, on the Qualla Boundary, at the Jackson County Board of Elections and at Western Carolina’s Health and Human Sciences building. These locations would all be open for the legally required hours and on Saturday.
Pavey said he was called before the Jackson GOP executive committee with Hanemeyer after they expressed that they supported early voting at the HHS building on Western’s campus “to justify” their reasoning.
“We presented them with evidence. We presented them numbers. We presented them everything. And all I heard was, well, we just don’t want it on campus,” Pavey said.
“There are concerns from the Republican Party about having it on a university site and as far as neutrality. I’ll just put it that way,” Thompson said. He said that he hadn’t seen any problems but that he had heard of issues with “unverified” voters “most of them from Cullowhee.”
Allen pushed back on allegations of unverified voters, explaining that the registration repair list “is coming out of arbitration and that is not an indication of voter fraud.”
“I want to on the record say that there is no evidence of fraud in elections in Jackson County,” Allen said.
Under a 10-year agreement with the university, the site would include 20 designated parking spaces in the upper parking lot (so that no stairs are necessary), signage on the road and in the parking lot, curbside voting locations, as well as access to tables, chairs and wi-fi. The accommodations would not incur any additional cost to the county. Pavey worked on the agreement in his capacity as a lawyer.
To vote now or later
After it became apparent that the vote would not be unanimous, the board had a choice to make: wait for the new fourth board member or send the non-unanimous vote to the NCSBE.
Allen explained that the deadline for the early voting plan is July 24 so it was unclear if a new board member would be appointed by the NCSBE before that deadline. There are currently no NCSBE meetings on the calendar before that date.
Allen also explained that absentee distribution starts Sept. 4 and the notice to voters about their precinct location is due Sept.19.
Another consideration for election planning, Allen added, was a number of bills moving through the legislature which would change election policy, specifically SB 1084 which will decrease the number of early voting days from 17 days to 10 days and eliminate Sunday voting statewide.
Pavey told the board that the new member would be aligned with the local Jackson GOP and was very likely to vote for the Cullowhee Rec Center polling location.
“I think we need to go ahead and just get it voted on. Whoever’s coming in is going to vote for the rec center. I’ve been told that they are searching for someone who is going to absolutely vote for the rec center. It’s not going to change anything. We’re going to either have a three to one or a three to two vote either way,” Pavey said.
He made a motion for the early voting plan that was seconded by Swift.
The State Board is expected to consider the proposal at a meeting later this month.
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