Republicans who control the North Carolina legislature are moving to change the makeup of state and county election boards and sideline the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper.
In Texas, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law that allows a state official appointed by him to take over election operations in Harris County – home to Houston and the state’s largest Democratic stronghold.
New laws in Georgia – a key presidential battleground state – have changed who serves on local elections boards.
And in Wisconsin – where the winner in four of the past six presidential races has been decided by less than 1 point – questions hang over who will run elections in 2024. The term of the state elections administrator, Meagan Wolfe, ends July 1, and her reappointment is in doubt. Some Republican lawmakers have taken aim at Wolfe over changes to election procedures in 2020, when Joe Biden flipped this swing state. A key vote on her future is expected Tuesday.
In pockets around the country, Republican officials are working to change who oversees elections in ways that critics say could shift the balance of power to their party or lead to partisan stalemates when high-stakes Senate and presidential contests are on the ballot next year.
“The rules that are going to be governing the 2024 elections are really being written right now,” said Megan Bellamy, vice president of law and policy at the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks election legislation. “These state legislators are seeking new powers over election administration, and the ultimate outcome could be greater authority for partisan actors in the process.”
In North Carolina, where Republicans now have a supermajority in the General Assembly and can override Cooper’s veto, a bill that recently passed the state Senate would shift some powers over election administration from…
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