Since the 2020 election, certain election officials in North Carolina have adopted the same anti-democratic strategies as Republicans in other key swing states. According to Informing Democracy, these include participating in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; promoting election disinformation and false claims of fraud during the 2020 presidential election; drastically reducing early voting hours and not allowing voting on Sundays or on college campuses; filing protests against legitimate voters; calling for martial law in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and voting against certifying valid election results, among other actions.
In Surry County, two members of the Elections Board refused to certify local results in 2022, questioning the legitimacy of state election law and court decisions. In a rare example of accountability, the State Board of Elections later voted unanimously to dismiss both officials. “Those who administer elections must follow the law as it is written, not how they want it to be,” said Damon Circosta, chairman of the state board.
The following county Board of Elections administrators continue to support Trump’s Big Lie or spread misinformation about election integrity in North Carolina:
- Anthony Iovino | Burke County Board of Elections
In April 2021, Anthony Iovino reshared a post on Facebook that read, “IF THEY CAN STEAL AN ELECTION RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE, THINK OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING BEHIND YOUR BACK…” - Byron Waters | Halifax County Board of Elections
In September 2020, Byron Waters shared a Project Veritas article on Facebook about a “cash-for-ballots voter fraud scheme,” adding his own cynical comment: “Oh no, there’s no problem with loose rules on mail-in ballots, none at all.” Meta has since removed the post since it was spreading false information. - Elizabeth McDowell | Mecklenburg County Board of Elections
In November 2020, Elizabeth McDowell voted against certifying the results of the election in her county saying that she disagreed with new State Board of Elections guidelines extending the period for accepting mail-in ballots and making the cure process to fix errors on such ballots easier. In September 2016, McDowell publicly urged the North Carolina Board of Elections to cut back on early voting for the sake of election “integrity” and claimed that fraud was common, describing how voting precincts took advantage of the elderly and the “mentally infirmed” [sic]. - Mary Potter Summa | Mecklenburg County Board of Elections
In November 2020, Mary Potter Summa voted against certifying the results of the election in her county saying that she disagreed with new State Board of Elections guidelines extending the period for accepting mail-in ballots and making the cure process to fix errors on such ballots easier. In September 2016, she emailed a letter to the editor claiming that “campaign and party officials” had coerced voters at Mecklenburg precincts to join them behind the voting screen so that they could manipulate the outcome. Summa only ever backed the claim with hearsay evidence. - John “Johnny” Adams | Montgomery County Board of Elections
Several days after the January 6 insurrection attempt, Johnny Adams posted on Facebook, “I hope he [Trump] declares marshall [sic] law and uses the military to get to the bottom of all this cheating. They know and have the proof. If it’s going down let’s get it over with.” In August 2021, Adams posted a graphic falsely suggesting that D.C. police officer Michael Fanone was a Capitol rioter carrying a Confederate flag. The following month, he posted a graphic that falsely claimed the Biden family owns 10% of a Chinese lithium ion battery company whose “stock had soared almost 300% since Biden was ‘elected.’”