And then there were none.
Lenoir County today is without a board of elections. Board Chairwoman Sharon Kanter, Secretary Oscar Herring and board member Kim Allison each sent letters of resignation to the State Board of Elections, respective county party chairs and other interested parties Monday afternoon.
In January, board members sought to remove county elections director Dana King from her position, sending a petition to the State Board of Elections. King, in return, issued a reply to the petition. SBE Executive Director Gary Bartlett traveled to Kinston to mediate the dispute, but was unsuccessful.
In his March 6 ruling denying the petition and placing King on probation through Dec. 1, Bartlett, in essence, said the board and King had irreconcilable differences.
“I see unchecked personality conflicts, vindictive distortions, and a lack of trust and harmonization by all,” Bartlett wrote. “It was difficult to sift out the facts from the innuendo and invective contained in the materials.”
Each board member chose to let their resignation letters speak for their reasons.
“The atmosphere which has evolved here in the past three months has made it apparent to me that the administrative changes this board has attempted to make are unwelcome by either the LCBOE staff or the North Carolina State Board of Elections,” Kanter wrote.
She continued, “Having led those rejected attempts at change, and lacking support at either level for any of them, I see no point in my continued occupation of this position.”
Kanter also wrote she enjoyed working with her fellow board members and representing the residents of Lenoir County. Allison mentioned much of the same, while noting her move is a reaction to King’s activities as elections director.
“It has been made abundantly clear that my service is not welcomed at the Lenoir County Board of Elections,” Allison wrote. “I cannot serve on this board when the elections director continues to undermine this board’s authority.”
Herring said his time on the board has been “interesting,” but preferred not to reference the past conflict.
“The time has come,” he wrote. “I am 76 years old and I must focus on my remaining years. I must set the example, provide the leadership and give my adopted grandson quality time in his formative years.”
King, whose vacation began Tuesday, was unaware of the departures. She and the board members recently agreed to a budget for the agency.
“Well, I’m kind of surprised,” King said. “I didn’t know anything about it until I got a call from the two parties to let me know that they had been contacted.”
She added she hadn’t contacted the SBE or seen the resignation letters, and didn’t know what the state board’s next move would be. Lest county residents conjure images of politicos running wild in the streets without an overseeing board, the resignations may have come at a convenient time.
“I don’t have an election or anything going on until July when they start filing for this year’s elections,” King said.
Regardless of what happens in preceding months, a new board will be installed on July 1.
According to state law, when a county board of elections has a vacancy, the political party that nominated the last member to hold the position must nominate two replacements. Since Allison and Kanter were Democratic appointments, and Herring the Republican member, Democrats would get four nominees and the GOP would have two.
While in a normal appointment process, the SBE would look at the entire nominee pool. But the law specifies in the event of a vacancy, the state board must select from the only two nominated for the specific vacated position. So, it’s unlikely the county board’s political composition will change in the interim.
Neither county party has anyone in mind, as of yet.
“We’re in the process of searching and looking at people right now,” Lenoir County Democratic Party Chairman Jimmy Cochran said. “So, at the moment, I don’t have a name.”
For the county GOP’s executive committee to meet and make nominations there needs to be a 10-day advance written notice. That notice went out Tuesday morning.
“At this time, no,” Michele Nix, Lenoir County Republican Party chairwoman, said of any potential nominees. “What happens is, our board — our executive committee — would need to meet, and then once the executive committee meets, we would nominate, and then the chair would choose.”
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.
Breakout Box
State law on county boards of elections:
- Must be three people
- No more than two people appointed by one party
- County Democratic and Republican parties select nominees
- State Democratic and Republican parties forward nominees to State Board of Elections
- State Board of Elections selects three from those nominated