As The Elections Boards Turn …
Typical elections board meetings are a great cure for insomnia. But, lately, things have gotten exciting. We had the always-unpredictable, always-exciting Dallas Woodhouse in some episodes over early voting in Jackson and Granville counties.
Now, we have Anson County losing its second elections director in a calendar year:
[…] Neva Helms submitted her resignation letter this week, citing unsafe conditions and responsibilities that were “incompatible” with the role.
The resignation came after a tense interaction this week with a local candidate, which the North Carolina State Board of Elections said they are now investigating.
Helms, daughter of local Republican representative Mark Brody, was appointed to the director role by the North Carolina State Board of Elections in May. Her appointment came after the ousting of both former longtime director Sherry Melton as well as the deputy director
In a 2-page letter obtained by WBTV, Helms detailed a list of workplace grievances including:
- County commission reduced her salary from $71,000 to $43,000 within her first week of employment
- Removal of overtime pay in the latest proposed county budget
- No relief during Anson County’s recent days-long water boil advisory, despite other departments receiving relief or accommodations
- No assistance during her mandatory lunch clock-out period, requiring her to work off the clock to assist the public
- No structured training to learn the role
Resignation comes after tense meeting with candidate
In her letter, Helms says the decision to resign came after an incident on Tuesday that required assistance from the sheriff’s office and made her feel that she could no longer safely work in the building
According to people familiar with the incident, the incident involved a meeting with an election candidate and two other people who became upset about how the board was handling issues with the candidate’s paperwork.
In that meeting, the candidate and others with him allegedly raised their voices and the meeting became heated.
No arrests were ultimately made, and no one was threatened.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the NCSBOE said the Board is aware of and investigating the incident among other allegations made in the letter.
“We take any allegations of intimidation, harassment, or interference with elections officials very seriously and will conduct a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding this incident,” their statement read.
Director cites safety concerns with building
Helms said in her letter that there was unauthorized access to the Board of Elections building after hours, after telling county leadership repeatedly that the building was restricted to unauthorized personnel.
County chairman Jamie Caudle didn’t respond to an emailed request from WBTV to discuss concerns raised to the county. Helms did not say in her letter who was accessing the building.
In North Carolina, election buildings are typically owned and maintained by the county with the North Carolina State Board of Elections providing guidance and recommendations on security.
The letter stated that Helms also only recently discovered that restricted areas could be unlocked with a cell phone, and that unnamed individuals she was not aware of had access to security camera footage in the building.
“It allowed others to see when I arrived, when I left, and when I was alone in the building without my knowledge,” Helms wrote.
Helms worked alone without support staff for the majority of her three months on the job. The deputy director who was named when she started did not complete his onboarding training, and he was not replaced
In the interim, the NCSBOE told WBTV they have dispatched staff to Anson County to help maintain operations.
“Our immediate priority is ensuring the Anson County Board of Elections remains fully operational and that voters continue to receive uninterrupted election services,” the Board’s statement read.
“We will continue working closely with the county board as it moves forward with hiring new staff and preparing for the upcoming election.”
Thank you for allowing me to reply. I know this site is not a fan of. me. I accept that and the mistakes I have met.
I worked months on the Anson Issue, which was complex and difficult.
The strong vast majority of NC local election operations are well run, accurate and secure, while not perfect.
Anson, was totally different. Completely corrupt.
Here is the news about The State Board of Elections approving outside counsel for the Anson Board of Elections to fight the unlawful actions of the Anson Commissioners
Anson County Board of Elections and community members reached out to me early in my tenure. While I was vaguely familiar with past problems in Anson, the documents and evidence were overwhelming, all of which were somewhere in the public record.
The most serious evidence showed, many instances of documented unlawful voter assistance schemes where many voters where voters were accompanied by non family members into the voting enclosure while ballots were being marked after aggressive and unlawful efforts to “solicit” voter assistance opportunities. The law requires the voter to request assistance, and does not allow people in the parking lot to offer it and pressure voters, but that was happening routinely in Anson.
Meeting minutes show that Board appointments of precinct officials were changed and written complaints show that some appointees of the new GOP majority boards were pressured by staff not to accept the appointments.
Legally appointed GOPobservers were blocked from their duties.
A duly and legally called meeting of the Anson Board was inappropriately canceled by staff.
While my salty use of language on some texts was inappropriate, it was a venting of complete frustration of the Anson Commissioners to block the hiring of staff and the ability to resume operations, LAWFUL operations to the Anson Board of Elections, a mandate to the Board after they took their oaths of office.
Previous Democrat majority local and state boards of election did nothing to stop the culture of non-compliance and unlawful behavior. The Roy Cooper appointed 2020 State Board of Elections promises a serious investigation many creditable allegations of election lawbreaking, but they did nothing.
The efforts in Anson were extremely difficult, but the goal was simple. Restore lawful and legal election operations to Anson County and protect all voters ability to mark their ballots free from coercion.
However the County Commission members were determined to not let that happen.”
Once the Director and Deputy Director were removed from their positions, after a lengthy process that took months
the county commissioners deciding to block the hiring and paying of new staff all while knowing their actions were unlawful
Dallas Woodhouse
https://www.carolinajournal.com/ncsbe-approves-legal-counsel-for-anson-elections-dispute/
NCSBE approves legal counsel for Anson elections dispute
On Monday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) voted 4-1 to allow the board to provide litigation assistance to the Anson County Board of Elections through private counsel as selected by the board’s executive director, Sam Hayes.
Republican members, including Chair Francis De Luca, Secretary Stacey “Four” Eggers IV, and Angela Hawkins, voted in favor, along with Democrat member Siobhan Millen. Democrat member Jeff Carmon was the lone no vote.
While specific information wasn’t discussed, the Anson County Board of Elections recently formally petitioned the NCSBE to remove county elections director Sherry Melton. The board also recently voted to terminate the deputy director of elections.
The newly-seated Republican-majority board took action after what members describe as years of election administration failures that went unaddressed by prior Democratic-controlled state and local election boards. According to sources familiar with the case, the failures amount to serious violations of election law, including recently discovered failures in ballot security, unlawful voter assistance, interference with board authority, and repeated violations of election law going back more than 5 years.
The petition and supporting evidence file submitted to the State Board of Elections remains confidential unless the director is removed for cause. However, sources familiar with the investigation say the Anson County board has accused Melton of:
• Failure to execute lawful board directives and conduct undermining the board’s ability to perform its duties
• Interference with the statutory duties of the Anson County Board of Elections
• Mismanagement and dishonesty affecting election administration
• Conduct unbecoming an elections official and county employee
Review of public records, sworn affidavits, meeting minutes, complaints, and internal correspondence examined by Carolina Journal paints a legally suspect picture of election administration in Anson County stretching back to at least 2020, when Melton became director.
Among the conflicts, in November 2020, then-US Rep. Dan Bishop publicly accused Melton and county elections officials of allowing improper assistance to voters during early voting and demanded the release of surveillance footage he said would substantiate the claims. According to local newspaper the Anson Record, Bishop threatened legal action if the video was not promptly produced and subsequently pursued court avenues. By mid-November, portions of the footage circulated publicly, including clips aired by local television outlets showing a campaign-affiliated individual near voters. However, during the county canvass, officials and the county attorney pushed back, arguing the edited videos lacked full context and did not conclusively demonstrate wrongdoing.
Among the most serious allegations leveled by the county board in the petition is that Melton violated NC Gen. Stat. § 163?274, which makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to interfere with the lawful duties of an election board or its members.
According to sworn statements submitted by board members, Melton allegedly cancelled a duly called and publicly noticed meeting of the Anson County Board of Elections scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at 5pm, without board authorization. The meeting had been set pursuant to NC Gen. Stat. § 163?31, which grants authority to the board chair or a majority of members — not staff — to call meetings or adopt a meeting schedule. The board chair alleges that she did not become aware of the cancellation until seeing the public notice over the weekend and was unable to reach Melton in time to reissue the meeting notice before the statutory deadline expired.
Board members contend that by nullifying a duly called meeting, Melton obstructed board oversight, prevented lawful decision?making, and violated both state law and state board policy.
While Hawkins made the original motion at the board’s meeting on Monday, Millen made another motion to amend the original. Her motion stated that if Hayes chooses private counsel whose representation presents a conflict of interest due to its current handling of matters adverse to the state board, any waiver of that conflict must be signed by individual board members.
“I just would say I think that’s a personal right adhering to me as an individual, the right to waive or not waive, and no one else can waive it for me — so that’s all I would say,” Millen said.
Published reports have stated that Hayes hired an outside law firm linked to Republican politicians to defend it in a court case regarding early voting sites on college campuses.
Eggers replied that, having sat in the minority on the board for a long time, there have been a number of times he has read in newspapers or seen actions where it’s represented the state board did something that he didn’t necessarily agree with personally, but noted that this is an official capacity item rather than an individual capacity item.
“I have full confidence in Director Hayes that he will select the best counsel to represent the interests of Anson County based upon the facts and circumstances, and would note that he has great experience in selecting counsel to represent not only the General Assembly but in other matters as well,” he said.
Carmon said that while he has no doubt of Hayes’s ability to choose counsel, he would prefer that counsel not be the one with whom the board currently has a conflict.
Initially, Millen, Carmon, and Hawkins voted yes to Millen’s amended motion, and Eggers and De Luca no, but Hawkins had Eggers repeat the motion, to which she changed her vote to no, leading the motion to fail.
The vote then went back to the original motion, to which Millen voted yes, but she said she had reservations about doing it, as she said there need to be more guardrails in place than there currently are.
I’ve known DW for way too long, he’s like the guy who still lives in his parents basement 10 years after high school. As for Granville County, a lot of their problems are self-inflicted by the local GOP itself. They haven’t had particularly competent leadership in at least a decade, sources up there tell me, and when I saw this, it certainly seems that way.
https://www.newsbreak.com/the-ledger-news-1590439/4774952498622-apparent-texted-instructions-to-board-of-election-members-during-meeting-raise-open-meetings-law-questions
After a year working alongside election officials in all 100 North Carolina counties, I came away with something I didn’t expect: greater confidence in our election system—and a clearer vision for how to make it even stronger. In this essay, I share what I learned and offer practical ideas to improve election administration for the next generation.
https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/ncs-elections-are-strong-now-lets-build-the-next-generation/