NC board removes election officials who refused to certify

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Tuesday fired two local election officials who refused to certify their county’s 2022 results after officials determined they violated state law.

The state council voted unanimously to remove Surry County Elections Secretary Jerry Forestieri and council member Timothy DeHaan in one of the toughest disciplinary actions taken against local officials in across the United States who have delayed or refused to certify election results. Controversies over election certification have stirred mostly rural counties across the country as conspiracy theories about voting machines have spread widely among conservatives.

Forestieri and DeHaan had questioned the legitimacy of state election law and court rulings banning photo ID checks and voter residency challenges. They falsely claimed in a letter that the vote was “illegal” and “highly uncertain”.

“These rulings stripped the electoral process of the reliability it was meant to protect,” they wrote. “Since then, the general well-being of the citizens of North Carolina has been damaged by a growing lack of confidence in our electoral process.”

The two circulated the letter during a web meeting last fall when county election officials met to certify the accuracy of the vote count. DeHaan eventually signed to certify, while Forestieri did not.

State Council Chairman Damon Circosta said Tuesday that county election officials cannot refuse to implement state council directives or court orders with which they disagree. .

“Those administering elections must follow the law as it is written, not how they want it to be,” Circosta said.

The North Carolina Supreme Court, which at the time had a Democratic majority, upheld a trial court ruling late last year that declared a 2018 voter ID law unconstitutional and tainted of racial prejudice. But the new Republican High Court majority opted to revisit the case earlier this month.

Bob Hall, former executive director of the prominent voting rights group Democracy North Carolina, filed complaints with the state board that prompted Tuesday’s hearing. He said the men’s refusal to accept the legitimacy of state election laws directly conflicts with their oath of office and their responsibility to perform their duties in accordance with those laws.

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Election conspiracies in recent years have undermined public trust, led to threats against election workers in North Carolina and other states, and inspired efforts to ban voting machines altogether. They have also been used by a small number of local officials across the country to justify refusing to certify election results, as was the case in Surry County.

The ousted county officials had falsely alleged that the court rulings offered “protection against criminal voter fraud” and raised the possibility of “election theft.”

Last year, New Mexico state officials had to get a court order to compel officials from Otero County, a conservative community that backed former President Donald Trump with nearly 62% of votes in 2020, to certify the results of their primary election. No commissioner in New Mexico has been removed from office for refusing to certify the results, according to state election officials.

There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting materials in the 2020 or 2022 elections.

Election experts fear what happened last year could be a preview of what will happen after the 2024 presidential election if a candidate refuses to back down again.

Election officials have spent six years beefing up their cybersecurity defenses and adding equipment and testing to ensure election technology is protected. Much of the country now uses paper ballots, which ensures that a record can be used to recalculate the results in the event of manipulation or error.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the spread of false allegations by Trump and his allies, who continue to travel the country meeting with local officials and holding community forums exposing election conspiracies.

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Hannah Schoenbaum is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on underreported issues.

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Associated Press writer Christina Cassidy contributed from Atlanta.

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