FRIDAY: Board of Elections to Release Records Surrounding Secretive Deal with Marc Elias

Legislators demanded records production pursuant to state law

Gov. Cooper’s Board of Elections to comply with mandatory production request by Oct. 9

Attorney General Stein has so far refused to comply with records production request

Raleigh, N.C. — The N.C. State Board of Elections informed the co-chairs of the Senate Elections Committee that it will provide records surrounding its secretive settlement deal with Democratic Party super-lawyer Marc Elias by Friday, Oct. 9.

Legislators requested the records pursuant to G.S. 120–19 on Sept. 25. The Gov. Cooper-controlled Board responded on Sept. 29 that they would produce records no later than Oct. 9.

Attorney General Josh Stein’s office has so far refused to comply with the mandatory, legally-required records production request.

Last month, Gov. Cooper’s Board of Elections and Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein ambushed their co-defendants, the legislature, by “settling” a lawsuit filed by Gov. Cooper’s former lawyer, Marc Elias, to undo state laws guarding against absentee ballot fraud.

In their letter to Gov. Cooper’s Board of Elections and Attorney General Stein, Sens. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell), Warren Daniel (R-Burke), and Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus) demanded they provide “copies of all communications” between their offices and the plaintiffs’ Democratic attorneys.

The letter also demands “copies of all communications” between the Gov. Cooper-controlled Board of Elections and the N.C. Democratic Party and Democratic Party candidates.

All of the requested documents between the Board of Elections, plaintiffs, and their respective counsels are public records not protected by the attorney-client privilege because the privilege does not exist between opposing parties of a lawsuit.

Damon Circosta, Chairman of the Board of Elections, said recently, “They [voters] deserve all of the facts when the impartiality of their election administration and security are questioned in the public sphere.”

Since then, Circosta has refused to speak to reporters or answer questions. For example, a recent news story reported, “Neither Circosta nor an NCSBE spokesman responded to at least four separate emails asking under what authority the August 21 memo was revised to change the rules.”