North Carolina state auditor Dave Boliek speaks to lawmakers about a bill that would give his office a new team to examine state spending and jobs on April 2, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

The efforts of North Carolina Republican lawmakers to transform the state Board of Elections into a partisan puppet show continue apace.

First, was the absurd move that placed MAGA state auditor Dave Boliek over the board instead of the Governor.

Then came Boliek’s appointment of a pair of ultra-partisan GOP politicians as board members.

And last week, Republican legislators slipped a provision into the state budget bill that would politicize the board’s professional staff.

The change would allot the board seven new staff positions – all of them political appointees. This represents a huge and troubling shift for an agency in which staff have long been nonpartisan civil servants.

Now, add that the budget gives the board 1.5 million dollars so it can hire private attorneys rather than rely on the state’s nonpartisan civil servant lawyers, and the blatant and disturbing partisanship of the move becomes even clearer.

The bottom line: there is no governmental function for which nonpartisanship is more vitally important than running elections. All North Carolinians should be outraged by these changes.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.