LUMBERTON — Lisa Douglas, a Democrat, has been elected to serve as chairman of the Robeson County Board of Elections and Republican Steve Stone will serve as its secretary.
Stone and Douglas are currently the only members of the board. Joshua Malcolm, a Democrat who had been serving as chairman of the three-member board, was recently named by Gov. Pat McCrory to serve as a member of the state Board of Elections and had to exit the local board.
A replacement for Malcolm has not yet been approved by the state board. The Robeson County Democratic and state Democratic parties have submitted the names of Tiffany Powers, a Lumberton attorney, and Kent Chavis, a banker and resident of Maxton, as their nominees for the position.
The election of officers was held Friday to reorganize the board’s leadership in the absence of Malcolm, who served as the board’s chairman the past four years. Both Douglas and Stone were officially administered their oath off office Monday by District Court Judge Judith Milsap Daniels.
Douglas and Stone will hold their respective offices until July, when a new board consisting of two Republicans and one Democrat will be appointed. By law, the party of the current governor gets two seats on each of the 100 county boards of elections, while the minority party gets one seat on each. McCrory is Republican.
Douglas and Stone are expected to remain on the board after July, with Stone, who has served on the board for about 10 years, likely to be elected as chairman.
On Friday, the board also worked on finalizing a job description for a clerk. According to Tina Bledsoe, the Election Board’s interim director, advertising will begin soon for the position that starts at a annual salary of $21,973.
“The board wants to fill this position as soon as possible,” Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe said that the clerk will fill a position that has been vacant since the Saturday before November’s General Election. Currently, the board has only full-time employees — the interim director and two senior deputy supervisors of elections.
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