Auditor, GOP Said to Pressure Officials to Reject Early Vote Site

By Cash Michaels –

Did the Republican Party and state Auditor Dave Boliek pressure local GOP officials near Western Carolina University to reject its early voting site?

That’s the allegation that Republican election board officials in Jackson Country have made, saying that they were pressured by their own party, and according to one member, by Boliek, to dump any plans for the WCU site, which has hosted an early voting site for at least a decade.

“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,” Republican board member Jay Pavey said during the June 2nd Jackson County Board of Elections meeting. Pavey then joined the two Democratic members in voting for the early voting site to be used during the November midterm elections.

“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,” Pavey continued. “I will stand on this hill and I will die on this hill.”

If that drama wasn’t enough, Republican Board Chairman Bill Thompson, according to published reports based on recordings of the meeting, openly admitted when pressured by Democratic member Roy Osborn that he voted against the WCU site because of “pressure from above.”

“I want you to stand up and say this is a mandate from the auditor’s office,” Osborn challenged Thompson. “I want you to say ‘I’m gonna vote for the rec center because I’ve been told to by state auditor’s office,’” Osborn repeated. “I’ve been asked to, and I’m going to,” Thompson said.

State law requires that early voting decisions be unanimous, but since Thompson’s vote made Jackson County vote 3-1, the state Board of Elections must now consider the issue.

But… the drama didn’t end there.

Another Republican board member, Wes Hanemayer, had submitted his resignation as well. According to published reports, Hanemayer said in his letter that because his “moral position” had been called into question by outside entities to the board, that was where he was drawing the line.

“If third parties feel they can demand that I take a completely illogical path, that means they are convinced they have control,” Hanemayer wrote. “With that being a clear conflict of conscience I choose not to be part of the (Jackson County Board of Elections) and submit to their control.”

Representatives of both the NC Republican Party and the state Auditor’s office admit that they are in constant contact with the Republican chairs of county election boards through the state, but denied there being any pressure campaign for them or their board members to vote a certain way. The NC GOP spokesperson said the party is “deeply committed to ensuring access to early voting locations for all eligible voters, and we are appreciative of the efforts from Auditor Dave Boliek and the state board to maintain clean voter rolls and integrity in the administration of elections.”

All local boards in North Carolina presently have 3-2 Republican majorities, thanks to controversial 2024 legislation from the GOP-led NC General Assembly, which denied Gov. Josh Stein a traditional appointment power of his office, and gave it to Auditor Boliek.