A North Carolina Republican operative who was hired to be a liaison between State Auditor Dave Boliek and elections boards across the state resigned from the auditor\u2019s office Monday.<\/p>\n
The move comes just days after Boliek reassigned Dallas Woodhouse<\/a> \u2014 and after some of the state\u2019s top officials traded barbs over Woodhouse\u2019s influence on local elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesman for Boliek informed WRAL of Woodhouse\u2019s decision. Woodhouse, who became a program manager after the reassignment, provided his resignation letter to WRAL without providing further comment.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the need for a dedicated Elections Liaison has naturally come to an end,\u201d Woodhouse said in his letter. \u201cAccordingly, I believe this is the appropriate time for me to move forward and return to the public policy, communications, and advocacy work that has defined much of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n The resignation is the latest development in a political shift over the state\u2019s elections oversight.<\/p>\n Republican state lawmakers stripped responsibility for overseeing state and county election boards from Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, in 2024 and gave the power to Boliek, a Republican. Boliek hired Woodhouse<\/a>, a former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, to help shape county election boards and early voting plans.<\/p>\n Under Boliek, the state board of elections and all 100 county election boards have switched to GOP majorities, and after Woodhouse was hired, some counties enacted longtime Republican priorities such as eliminating some early voting options on Sundays \u2014 a popular day with Black voters and on college campuses. Black voters and students tend to vote Democratic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Woodhouse had served in the role since September. According to reporting from WLOS<\/a> and NC Local<\/a>, Woodhouse and Boliek were involved in efforts to ensure the new Jackson County Board of Elections would shut down a polling place on campus at Western Carolina University. In the Triangle, the Wake County Board of Elections also recently voted to eliminate a longtime early voting site at N.C. State\u2019s student union, and to move it to a remote part of campus, WRAL previously reported.<\/p>\n Last week, amid scrutiny of those moves, Boliek reassigned Woodhouse to a position focusing on constituent services and communications.<\/p>\n Boliek\u2019s office said last week that Woodhouse\u2019s liaison position was never meant to be permanent. Woodhouse echoed that in his resignation letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI leave this position believing the mission we were asked to accomplish has been successful,\u201d Woodhouse said. \u201cOur 100 County [board of elections] chairs that were appointed just a year ago are now well equipped to conduct a fair, accurate, transparent election this fall, where voters have unprecedented opportunities to vote at a time and matter of the voters’ choosing.\u201d<\/p>\n