Meet the Election Deniers in Charge of North Carolina Elections
Since Republicans took charge of administering North Carolina elections a few months ago, they have appointed local election officials who were accused of denying election results and bullying political party officials, and — in one horrific case — allegedly drugging his teenaged granddaughter’s ice cream.
The executive director of the state elections board, former legislative counsel Sam Hayes, has gotten the most attention. As counsel to House Speaker Destin Hall, Hayes helped write the bill that transferred control of elections from the governor to the state auditor —one of the few Republicans to win statewide in 2024.
That law gave Republicans the power to appoint a majority of members not only to the state elections board, but also — something that’s received less attention — to the local boards that run the state’s elections at the ground level. And some of their picks look likely to further erode confidence in the state’s election administration.
In Lee County, they chose Jay DeLancy of the Voter Integrity Project (VIP). DeLancy has pushed election-related conspiracy theories for years. He started VIP to “watch” the people counting the votes. And over the years, he has spread “voter fraud” conspiracy theories about people in North Carolina, Georgia, and other states.
After DeLancy spent years criticizing election administrators, the tables turned. He is now the one administering elections in his home county. Of course, he quickly changed his tune about the job.
“The things election integrity people like me have been complaining about were not all put there for nefarious purposes,” DeLancy said in a recent interview with Carolina Public Press. “Now we’re having to see, oh, it was done for a pragmatic purpose, just so we have time to count [the ballots].” Maybe DeLancy will reflect on the fact that the cause he dedicated the last 15 years of his life to — accusing election administrators of doing something “nefarious” despite a lack of evidence — was based on a harmful lie or, at best, a misconception.
The GOP’s new power over elections comes as Republicans across the country are stacking the deck for the 2026 midterms.
Former state GOP chair Jim Womack actually filed a complaint against a new Cumberland County election board member in July. When Linda Devore was reappointed to the board, she was also head of the state Republican Party’s credentials committee. State law says that party “officers” can’t serve as election administrators. In response, Womack filed a complaint with the state board, alleging that Devore refused to resign.
“A local board of elections member must not be improperly motivated or influenced by partisan concerns that might impact judgment on contentious local election issues,” Womack’s complaint said.
A resolution introduced at the state party convention accused Devore of violating party rules and perpetuating “a discordant and stressful environment among credentials committee members, even bullying some district credentials representatives to the point of resigning…” The resolution recommended that she be fired, if she didn’t resign as head of the committee.
Republicans also chose Linda Rebuck for the Henderson County board, even though she was reprimanded by the state board last year for “false and misleading” statements to lawmakers and for advocating that Republicans win elections. Rebuck had claimed, despite evidence to the contrary, that Democrats were conspiring to steal statewide elections with absentee ballots.
Finally, the new chair of the Surry County elections board, James Yokeley, was arrested last month for spiking Dairy Queen blizzards that he purchased for his granddaughter and her friend. He was subsequently charged with contaminating food or drink with a controlled substance, felony child abuse, and felony possession of schedule I narcotics. According to police, video footage revealed that Yokeley had placed the substances with drugs containing MDMA and cocaine in the ice cream. Hayes immediately called on him to resign, and he did a few days later.
These are the people who were chosen by North Carolina Republicans to run elections. And the GOP’s new power over elections comes as Republicans across the country are stacking the deck for the 2026 midterms. In Georgia, two county commissioners in Atlanta have refused to approve two new election board members, chosen by the county GOP. One Republican appointee previously refused to certify election results, and the other has filed thousands of baseless voter challenges. A court ordered the commissioners to approve the members.
Local election boards will be crucial in 2026 and 2028. They decide when and where voting happens, and Republicans want them to make voting harder. Former Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell, for example, criticized voting locations on college campuses. And even more importantly, these local election boards are in charge of counting ballots and certifying election results. At the risk of sounding like Delancy, we’ve got to watch the people who count the votes.
Billy Corriher is the state courts manager for People’s Parity Project and a longtime advocate for fair courts and progressive judges. As a Democracy Docket contributor, Billy writes about voting and election state court cases in North Carolina and across the country.