News

'False and misleading' email earns elections board member smackdown from N.C. election chief

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 12, 2024

A local Board of Elections member warned lawmakers of a “concerted effort to turn Henderson County blue” through improper verification of absentee and new voter applications, predicting a win for Democrats statewide if legislators failed to intervene.

“I want to strongly state my belief that if you do not intervene immediately either legislatively or legally, we are going to lose NC to the Dems in November which will likely mean we lose the country,” Linda Rebuck, a Republican member of the Board of Elections, said in the letter to legislators. “The responsibility will be yours, one way or the other.”

Rebuck's warning earned her a reprimand from the North Carolina State Board of Elections for spreading “false and misleading statements” to state lawmakers and advocating a Republican victory in the 2024 elections, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

Responding to Rebuck's email, the state board’s executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, called the statements “sensationalistic and inflammatory," saying also that they would "undermine voter confidence with no facts to back them up.” Brinson Bell reminded Rebuck that state law prohibits members of election boards from publicly supporting any candidate, the N&O said. “Whether or not the statements violate these provisions, it undermines the public’s confidence in the fair administration of elections if their elections officials are widely communicating their desire for a particular outcome in an election they oversee,” she wrote. Rebuck did not respond to an email from the N&O.

Under state law, county boards of elections have a Democratic majority based on the fact that the state currently has a Democratic governor. Other board members besides Rebuck are Democrats Clay Eddleman, chair; Cynthia Ellis and Sharon Pearson, and Republican Debbie Dante, secretary.