Stop us if you’ve heard this one before– In an attempt to cling to power, NC Republicans are pushing for a new series of voting restrictions. 

Their latest attempt is House Bill 958, an elections bill meant to add more obstacles for voters trying to cast their ballot, and fewer restraints on the power-hungry politicians looking to keep those ballots from being counted. 

There’s a lot of bad in this bill. It would make it harder for active duty military to vote while serving our country overseas. It further politicizes the State Board of Elections, allowing 40% of the board’s civil servants to be replaced with political appointees. And it allows the State Board to use private attorneys rather than attorneys meant to serve the public, which would have the effect of making all communications between the Board and its attorneys private. 

But maybe most concerning is the power it grants State Auditor Dave Boliek. Under HB 958, Boliek would be given expansive power to “audit” our elections, which would grant him the power to examine “any areas of concern regarding election accuracy, security, or credibility.” This is especially concerning because MAGA Republicans like Boliek have been clear, time after time, that the only elections they believe to be credible are the ones that they win. 

HB 958 also allows Boliek to force county boards to challenge the ballots of specific voters. In practice, this means Boliek would be able to personally challenge the results of every election, in every county, whenever he wants. 

This is the same Dave Boliek who pressured Jackson County election officials to reject a plan for an early voting site on Western Carolina University’s campus. One official said Boliek’s message was clear that “if I don’t vote a particular way, that they will do whatever they have to do to remove me from the board.” When the official asked why they were doing this, he was told “We just don’t want it on campus.” Given how young voters are turning against the GOP, it’s clear that Boliek and his colleagues just wanted to make it harder for students to get to the polls.  

Boliek is already pressuring officials to manipulate our elections. HB 958 would make it legal. 

This has been a tough stretch for North Carolina voters. We saw Republicans in the General Assembly gerrymander our congressional maps– again– just to appease Trump. In doing this, they tried to limit the power of Black voters in Eastern NC. 

We then saw the GOP-controlled State Board of Elections reject early voting sites at NC A&T, the nation’s largest historically Black college, and other college campuses across the state. Other voting sites are likely in their crosshairs. 

We’ve seen the White House pressure Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which could disenfranchise over 2 million women in North Carolina. 

And now, we’re watching the Republican-led General Assembly push a bill that would fully hand the keys for our elections over to Dave Boliek– a man with a reputation for coercion and an ambition for higher office. 

But North Carolina has never shied away from a challenge. And NC voters are stepping up already to protect our democracy, including students at Western Carolina University. “There’s nothing that the board of elections is going to do to stop me from voting,” one said. 

And they’re not stopping. Led by students at WCU, young voters in the area marched for 40 minutes to the polls, alongside a busy highway, just to cast their ballot. 

MAGA Republicans are trying to take away more of our rights. They’re trying to silence us. They’re trying to grab power during a time when people really, really don’t want them to have it. 

But no one can take that power away. In the words of another student: “We’ve run into this issue before in North Carolina and we’ve been persistent. And when people are on the side of justice, justice does prevail.”

Ready to take action? You can leave a public comment on HB 958, or join the We Will Protect Our Vote rally on June 22 in Raleigh.