Former NC GOP Head Appointed NC “Election Integrity” Official

By Cash Michaels –

The former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, a nationally known right-wing partisan, has now been appointed the man in charge of statewide “election integrity” by State Auditor Dave Boliek.

Dallas Woodhouse is the man who once disrespectfully called Bishop William Barber “Mr. Barber” during television appearances while publicly opposing the minister’s Moral Monday demonstrations; has railed against Sunday “Souls to the Polls” voting; and, during the 2016 elections, sent an email to appointed Republican chairmen of county election boards advising them to limit early voting hours in an effort to limit Democratic voting,

A longtime fixture in North Carolina Republican politics, Woodhouse will effectively be overseeing all 100 of North Carolina’s county election boards in his new role as a liaison for Boliek, also a Republican. “Mr. Woodhouse will serve as my eyes and ears on the ground in our elections process,” Boliek said in an email to the county chairs.

Reportedly, Woodhouse’s new responsibilities will include helping county boards develop their early voting plans, as well as shaping election policy and planning in an effort, the state auditor’s office says, to “maximize participation in elections.”

Woodhouse has been unavailable for comment since the news of his hiring broke, but when he was NCGOP executive director from 2015 to 2019, he aggressively worked against maximizing early voting participation by Black citizens. He especially fought the traditional Sunday “Souls to the Polls” events, when Black churches fill their church vans after services and take their congregants to the nearest early voting precinct so that they could cast their ballots.

Since the majority of voting African Americans, especially Black women, vote for Democrats, GOP legislative leaders have long targeted Sunday early voting for elimination, and Woodhouse helped lead the charge when he was in power.

Woodhouse also opposed same-day registration and any establishment of early voting sites on college campuses.

After the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February 2016 that the Republican-led NC legislature deliberately undermined the Black vote “with surgical precision” and “discriminatory intent,” Woodhouse, as NCGOP Executive Director, sent the Republican county election board chairs an email suggesting they cut early voting hours.

He added, “There will be those who try to further distort the process against your Republican Candidates. You should also call your republican election board members and remind them that as partisan republican appointees they have duty to consider republican points of view and that we support them as they ensure our elections are secure.”

Woodhouse continued, “We believe same day registration is ripe with voter fraud, or the opportunity to commit it. Same Day registration is only available during early voting. We are under no obligation to offer more opportunities for voter fraud. Same day registration does require the same type of identification required to register at other times, but no photo ID is required and no immediate proof of residency.”

The 2016 email from Woodhouse opposing early voting then targeted Sunday voting with selective language.

“Many of our folks are angry and are opposed to Sunday voting for a host of reasons including respect for voter’s religious preferences, protection of our families and allowing the fine election staff a day off, rather than forcing them to work days on end without time off. Six days of voting in one week is enough. Period. No group of people are entitled to their own early voting site, including college students, who already have more voting options than most other citizens.”

At least one member of the Wake County Board of Elections defends Woodhouse, saying the positions he took ten years ago against early voting should not be assigned to him now as a state official representing the Republican State Auditor’s office.

But last year, the Republican-led NC General Assembly appointed Boliek, who won the November election over incumbent Democrat Jessica Holmes, to take over state election administration and control from the governor. Gov. Stein sued to stop the change. That lawsuit is ongoing, but Boliek was allowed to proceed.

Auditor Boliek then appointed two Republicans to join a third on the five-member state elections board, and that Republican majority immediately began changing policy on May 1st.

The new Republican-led State Elections Board ultimately voted to eliminate Sunday voting in two counties, and make it optional in the other 98, after being warned not to go much further for fear of legal action.

So Woodhouse, who also used to lead a conservative group called American Majority, whose stated purpose was “to help Republicans and hurt Democrats in elections,” would not be operating against his prior beliefs, which included new legislative limits on ballot access that would “restore confidence” in the electoral system.

But a year ago, while leading American Majority, Woodhouse encouraged Republicans to change their earlier opposition to early voting, and instead use it for their benefit.

“If you go out and say—‘I vote by mail, I always vote early’—then you can help more conservatives be comfortable with it. Remind your voters that the organized left is chasing their votes early. Big early voting helps conservatives when our candidates are starting weeks late bringing their voters to the ballot box,” Woodhouse told a gathering of Republican voters.

Figures from the 2024 North Carolina General Election show that many Republicans were listening to Woodhouse, and won several offices 2024 because they changed up, and began voting early.