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Please Note: We share this information with the hope that it aids pro-democracy activists by highlighting specific process points to monitor for any subversive efforts. Due to the sensitivity of this information and the potential for it to be exploited by bad actors, this page and the links within it should not be shared outside of the pro-democracy community.

If you have any questions or feedback on these identified vulnerabilities, please contact us at info[at]informingdemocracy[dot]org.

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Overview

In North Carolina, the administration of elections is centralized, with the State Board of Elections having a high amount of oversight and decision-making power. In turn, the Governor has a lot of executive control with the power to appoint the State Board of Elections and the Chair of each County Board of Elections. Were the governorship to be held by a bad actor, this could have drastic ramifications in all areas of election administration.

Additionally, in the context of some election protests and contests, the General Assembly and the Superior Court of Wake County are required to weigh in on election matters. The potential for injecting unchecked partisan bias into their duties could cause reverberations in all races.

On the local level, the County Boards of Elections — which are unelected partisan bodies — have a lot of duties that, in other states, would be held solely by professional election staff and/or by elected officials. This structure creates potential vulnerabilities unique to the state of North Carolina. A minority of a County Board of Elections, acting in bad faith, could cause unnecessary delays in several election duties.

The vast majority of North Carolina’s election administrators are dedicated public servants who have sought to make sure no voter is disenfranchised. However, a review of North Carolina’s 100 County Boards of Elections identified 51 of 498 officials — about 10% — whose news mentions, social media posts, or official actions raised concerns. Of these officials, 13 publicly denied or questioned the results of the 2020 election. Three individual Board of Elections members voted against certifying election results, one attended the January 6, 2021 rally in Washington, DC, and 27 espoused election-related conspiracy theories.

Counties of Concern

Research surfaced concerning findings for at least two of the five Election Board members in these counties. While short of a majority needed to disrupt election certification at the county level, a county in this category has officials who pose concerns with regard to undermining faith in free and fair election administration this November:

• Bladen: Bladen County’s Emery White initially refused his nomination to the County Elections Board, leaving the board with too few members to take actions like picking early voting sites and counting absentee ballots. According to the Associated Press, “White’s decision follows complaints by state Republican Party officials after the state elections board wouldn’t reappoint other Bladen elections board members who served last year. State officials decided a fresh start was needed after Dowless, who has deep ties in local politics, was reported to be illegally collecting mail-in ballots for years without local or state authorities stopping him.” Bladen County’s Michael Aycock also expressed election skepticism after certain polling locations didn’t have a Republican election judge, saying, “I still feel that voters in Bladen County will have concerns about the integrity of the election.”
• Brunswick: Brunswick County’s Randy Pelton and Stuart Smith both pushed to terminate the Board of Elections’ membership in the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, saying, “if we do not eliminate this agreement, we’re going to continue to have concerns in Brunswick County about our election and our credibility.” The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence was an alliance of counties working to share best practices for election administration founded by the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which conspiracy theorists have falsely accused of trying to “systematically influence every aspect of election administration.”
• Burke: Burke County’s Anthony Iovino was an open election denier who repeatedly posted memes alleging voter fraud. Sandi Walker, another Board of Elections Member, claimed that liberal voters were “being misled to follow a lie from Satan the father of lies.”
• Caldwell: Caldwell County Board of Elections member Phil Ingle posted about the need to investigate voter fraud as Trump was contesting his election loss and spread conspiracies about the January 6 riots on social media. Caldwell County’s Bill Stone was accused of brushing aside complaints of voter intimidation at polling places in 2016, leading the NAACP to call for his resignation. Furthermore, one complainant alleged Stone had made “threatening remarks to him.”
• Chatham: Chatham County Board of Elections members Bob Tyson and Frank Dunphy both defied state guidance in their votes against approving a supplemental absentee ballot that had been recommended for reconsideration of approval by the State Board of Elections Absentee Ballot Coordinator.
• Cumberland: In 2016, Cumberland County’s James Baker was sued by the NAACP for his role in the county’s mass removal of voters from the voter rolls. A judge ruled in favor of the NAACP. Board member Linda Devore opposed an early voting site near Fayetteville State University, sparking accusations of voter suppression. She also shared claims of vote “harvesting,” a term frequently used by election deniers.
• Forsyth: Forsyth County Elections Board members Adam Draper and Chad Doomy pushed to move forward with an elections protest related to poll workers using a technical fix to ensure votes were properly tabulated. In 2022, workers at all of the county’s 108 polling locations were forced to use a password they should not usually have had access to in order to shut down the polling machines following an administrative mix-up. Although the password gave the poll workers access to limited administrative functions, the use of the administrative code did not violate election law or cast doubt on the election results.
• Henderson: In April 2021, Henderson County Election Board member Debbie Dante changed her profile picture to an upside-down American flag, a common election denial symbol. Dante and board member Linda Rebuck also opposed following state guidance on handling mail-in ballots. In 2024, Linda Rebuck penned a letter to roughly 30 Republican state legislators expressing concerns that overseas absentee voters had not been properly vetted — despite the claims having been debunked by both state and national election officials. According to Rebuck, “if you do not intervene immediately either legislatively or legally, we are going to lose NC to the Dems in November which will likely mean we lose the country.” In response, the State Board of Elections and Secretary Karen Brinson Bell issued a statement condemning Rebuck for spreading “false and misleading” partisan statements that would “undermine voter confidence with no facts to back them up.”
• Iredell: In 2012, Elections Board member Jason Abernethy accused Iredell County Democrats of “trying to steal elections from voters.” June Reeves has repeatedly shared election denial conspiracy theories and supported efforts to refuse to certify the 2020 presidential election results. Not only did Reeves promote election conspiracy events linked to high-profile denier Mike Lindell, but she also served as the Iredell County coordinator of Cleta Mitchell’s North Carolina Elections Integrity Team.
• Lenoir: Two members of the Lenoir County Board of Elections have opposed following the State Board of Elections’ guidance on ballot curing. In 2020, Cindy Minges said the state guidance was “not law” and voted against approving cured absentee ballots, while Tommy Pharo pushed for a different interpretation of the cure process. Pharo contended that “it is against state law and he would not follow the guidance of the State Board of Elections but the law.”
• Mecklenburg: In 2020, both Elizabeth McDowell and Mary Potter Summa refused to certify the presidential election results. In their votes against certification, McDowell and Summa claimed the State Board of Elections’ order adjusting certain vote-by-mail requirements violated state law.