LUMBERTON — A complaint against the Robeson County Board of Elections chairperson is on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the State Board of Elections.
The board will hear the complaint against Tiffany Peguise-Powers during the meeting scheduled to start at 11 a.m. in the boardroom on the third floor of the Dobbs Building, located at 430 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.
“I absolutely intend to be there, and we shall see,” Powers said. “I have never been to a state board meeting, and I look forward to discussing the issues with the board.”
On Aug. 20, Shannon resident Julius Locklear filed a complaint accusing Power, a Democrat, of violating state law and state board policy against public comments or actions and social media postings that can be interpreted as an endorsement of a political candidate.
If the state board rules against Powers she will become the fourth member to leave the Robeson County Elections Board since the new five-member board was sworn in in February.
Karen Nance, a Democrat, resigned on Aug. 30, via a letter sent to Katelyn Love, general counsel for the State Board of Elections. Nance also had been named in the complaint filed by Locklear.
Olivia Oxendine, a Republican, resigned on Aug. 21. She was the target of a complaint filed with State Board of Elections earlier in August. The complaint, heard by the county Elections Board during its Aug. 14 meeting, charged Oxendine with having multiple signs from the Dan Bishop campaign in her yard. Photos of the signs were attached to the complaint.
Bishop, a Republican, won the Sept. 10 special election for the N.C. District 9 seat in Congress.
On Sept. 5, the State Board of Elections appointed Democrat Marion Thompson and Republican Wilton Shooter to the county board to fill the seats left vacant by Nance and Oxendine.
Steve Stone, a Republican, left the board on June 1, saying the time needed to perform Elections Board duties was making it hard to operate his construction business effectively. He was replaced on the board by Jack Moody, a Republican who narrowly lost a race for District Court judge in November 2018.
The fifth member of the board is Larry Townsend, a Democrat.
Townsend and Powers were members of the county board when it and every elections board in all North Carolina counties and the state Board of Elections were dissolved in December 2018. The previous nine-member state board was dissolved after a court ruled it was unconstitutional. County elections boards were caught up in the ruling.
The five-member board format for the state and county boards was a result of the court action. Boards now have three Democrats and two Republicans. The party that controls the Governor’s Mansion gets a majority on the boards.
Members of the public may listen to state board’s proceedings on Tuesday by dialing 562-247-8422 and using code 783-635-855.
