Beasley Seeks To Have Partisan Board of Elections That She Helped Create Overturn the Election by Only Counting Democrat Votes | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, NC     Justice Paul Newby has secured a majority of votes to become the next chief justice of the state of North Carolina now that all 100 counties have officially completed their canvass of the 2020 election and have certified the results. Although the soon-to-be former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley requested a state-wide recount, she seems to understand that no statewide recount has ever changed the result of a statewide race and can only win by getting the Democrat-controlled state election board she established to overturn the election.

    Yesterday, Beasley alleged the Democrat-controlled county boards made thousands of mistakes and filed protests in 90 county board of elections. Beasley then immediately asked the state board to consolidate and hear the protests. An analysis of those ballots shows that the soon to be former Chief Justice is seeking to reinstate more than 2000 disqualified votes, almost all cast by Democrats. She seeks to reinstate only 5 known Republican ballots.

    "The attempt by Beasley to bypass the county boards and go straight to the State Board of Elections is a blatant attempt to change the outcome of this election by rigging the vote counting process," said NCGOP Chairman Michael Whatley. "We know that Justice Newby secured the majority of votes upon completion of the County Canvass, and we know that the recount will confirm his victory. If all legal votes are counted, Newby wins. The only way Beasley would be able to win this election is if she has the Democrat State Board count only disqualified Democrat votes while not including disqualified Republican votes — which would clearly violate both the U.S and N.C Constitutions. The North Carolina Republican Party will continue to fight to make sure every legal vote is counted, while it abundantly clear that Beasley is trying to rig the count and steal this election."

    Local election officials are pushing back on the frivolous complaints filed by the Beasley campaign with one already calling the effort to overturn the election results as "a waste of resources for all involved." Yet, the Beasley campaign is attempting to bypass local election officials who have already disqualified 25 percent more Republican-cast provisional ballots than Democrat-cast provisional ballots to go straight to the state board established by a Beasley ruling and directly controlled by Governor Roy Cooper. Beasley ruled in favor of establishing a partisan board of elections in Cooper V. Berger instead of the bipartisan board the legislature set up.

    The partisan history of the state board is well established. Justice Beasley has a uniquely strong connection with the board and Governor Cooper. Beasley ruled in favor of Cooper's partisan board of elections so that Cooper's policy preferences could be implemented in North Carolina's elections. Then Cooper bucked precedent to appoint her Chief Justice.

    As soon as the Democrats clenched complete control of the North Carolina Board of Elections, they started acting in nakedly partisan ways. The Democrats quickly fired the well-respected executive director in favor of one signed off by Cooper's campaign consultant. Using Covid as cover, the State Board tried to change the rules of the election, and the Legislative Review Commission intervened to stop the State Board from violating the law.

    The most egregious partisan action taken by the Democrat State Board was when they entered into a collusive settlement with the assistance of Attorney General Josh Stein and Cooper's former attorney to fundamentally alter the Bipartisan Elections Act of 2020 by removing the witness requirement, extending the ballot return deadline and enabling vote harvesting by authorizing unmanned drop boxes. U.S. District Judge Richard Osteen strongly rebuked the State Board's attempt to unilaterally rewrite election law while voting was already ongoing and singled out NCSBER Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell for her dishonesty under oath.

• Contact: Tim Wigginton
•     communications@ncgop.org