North Carolina GOP mounts top-down campaign to block campus voting sites

In the year since it came under Republican control, North Carolina’s state elections board has repeatedly made headlines for decisions that restrict or suppress the vote. But now Democrats aren’t the only ones who are upset about it. 

Some Republicans are also pushing back as State Auditor Dave Boliek (R) attempts to exert control over county election boards and tell their members how to vote. 

At the center of the disagreement is the question of early voting locations on college campuses. Students previously sued* election officials who denied their request for a primary early voting site at their university, and the issue appears poised to remain a flashpoint as the 2026 general elections approach.

Multiple counties are currently moving to restrict early voting options for the 2026 midterms. But the intra-party discord only came to public attention earlier this month, when Republicans serving on Jackson County’s election board revealed during a public meeting that they had been pressured by GOP state officials to deny a campus early voting site at Western Carolina University. 

Ultimately, a Republican member cast the deciding vote to include the campus polling place. But that decision could still be overruled by the GOP-controlled state board of elections, which later this summer will have the final say for all North Carolina counties that did not unanimously approve their voting plans.

Bill Thompson, the GOP chair of the Jackson County elections board, admitted that he was voting against the location at the direction of Boliek’s office, which he said did not want a polling place on campus. 

“I’ve been asked to and I’m going to,” Thompson said. “That’s it.”

Boliek has held power over the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) since last year, when Republican lawmakers stripped the Democratic governor of his authority to appoint members of state and local election boards and transferred it to the state auditor. His office is now also in charge of appointing the local election board chairs, while the other local members are appointed by the NCSBE.

Boliek’s liaison to local boards of elections is Dallas Woodhouse, a GOP operative who previously served as executive director of the state GOP. During that time, he asked local boards to reduce early voting hours, not offer Sunday voting and refrain from reinstating polling sites on college campuses.

But two other GOP members of Jackson County’s election board proved less willing to obey the auditor’s diktats.

“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,” Jay Pavey, a GOP member of the board, said during the meeting.

Pavey cast the deciding vote to allow the campus polling site. Another GOP board member, Wes Hanemayer, resigned before the vote, which Pavey told the news outlet NC Local was a decision related to the controversy.

“If I was smart I’d have probably done what Wes did, but I’m not,” Thompson said. “I’m going to stand and go through it, whatever it is and see it through.”

Hanemeyer later wrote in his resignation letter, which was obtained by the News & Observer, that “third parties” believe they’re in control of the local boards, and he chose not to “submit to their control.”

NC Local also obtained text messages from the Jackson County Republican Party chair to Pavey, saying he “did not like the NCGOP or the auditor’s office trying to strong arm you guys.” But the local party chair still went on to ask Pavey, as one of the party’s representatives on the board, to oppose the campus location.

In a statement on social media, Gov. Josh Stein (D) said it was “outrageous” that Boliek pressured local board members to reject the campus polling place location, adding that there was “no legitimate reason” for state officials to overrule the plan approved by the county board.

Broad GOP attack on voting

Though Jackson County Republicans pushed back, other county boards have largely moved forward with efforts to restrict early voting locations or limit Sunday voting hours.

The Columbus County board is expected to vote Monday on its controversial plan to close four out of five early voting sites this year.

And earlier this month, Republicans on the Wake County Board of Elections rejected an early voting campus polling place at North Carolina State University. Wake County’s election board chair admitted he has known Woodhouse for years and said they discussed the plan, but he insisted he was not given an ultimatum to reject the campus location.

Granville County’s election board approved a voting plan this month despite criticism from residents, who said it removes two early voting locations that are convenient for minority voters and Granville Community College students. During the meeting, the Granville County election board chair referred to Boliek as “the boss” and said their plan aligns with his vision.

In January, the NCSBE denied students’ request to provide a primary election early voting location at North Carolina A&T State University, the largest of the country’s historically Black colleges and universities. Students wrote a letter asking for the polling site, saying it would help make voting accessible, particularly for students who don’t have cars. 

North Carolina student voters went on to file a lawsuit challenging the NCSBE’s denial. The court denied their motion seeking a preliminary injunction. 

Now, as county boards finalize their voting plans for the November general election, the same tensions could repeat all over again.

Rejecting students’ requests for an early voting polling place is just one of many voter suppression decisions the state board has made since Republicans took over last year.

The board has worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice on a legal settlement requiring voters to provide more personal information or risk being disenfranchised. The executive director supports sweeping legislation that would ban state election officials from publicly encouraging people to vote and increase partisan control over North Carolina’s election processes. The board has also moved forward with a plan to use the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) faulty citizenship-checking database to search for noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.

The board’s Republican majority also recently blocked a plan to prepare local officials for scenarios involving federal agents at polling places and attempts to seize ballots — even though those threats to elections have become all too real.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represented the plaintiffs in the case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.