RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Josh Stein is taking his fight over control of North Carolina’s elections boards to the state’s highest court.
Lawyers for the Democratic governor filed a petition Wednesday asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to hear Stein v. Hall and throw out a Court of Appeals decision that let the legislature hand elections board appointments to State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican.
The dispute centers on Senate Bill 382, passed in 2024 after Stein won the governor’s race. Before that law, the governor named all five State Board of Elections members, picked the chair of every county board and oversaw the state board’s budget. The law moved those duties to the auditor. When Boliek made his picks in May 2025, Republicans took a 3-2 edge on the state board and on every one of the 100 county boards, all of which Democrats had controlled by the same margin.
A three-judge appeals panel upheld the law 2-1 on Sept. 16. Judge April Wood, joined by Judge Valerie Zachary, found no clear separation-of-powers violation because the duties went to another statewide elected executive rather than to lawmakers. Judge John Arrowood dissented, writing that the law strips the governor of powers the Constitution reserves for him. That ruling reversed a trial court that had blocked the transfer last year.
In the new filing, Stein’s lawyers argue the case raises a substantial constitutional question and that the appeals majority wrongly treated Council of State offices as interchangeable. Under that reasoning, they wrote, the legislature could shuffle any executive duty among officials at will, which they said would wipe out the separation of powers. Stein has also said no other state gives its auditor control of election administration.
Boliek has said the earlier ruling affirmed his office’s independence and that it will keep carrying out its election duties.
The petition lands less than three weeks before the justices hear arguments in two other appointment fights between Stein and legislative leaders, House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate Leader Phil Berger. The Supreme Court, which like the appeals court has a Republican majority, earlier allowed Boliek’s appointments to take effect while the case moved forward.
Section: More Raleigh NC politics news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
