The North Carolina State Board of Elections ousted Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell after clinching a GOP majority for the first time in about 10 years. Brinson Bell, who had served in the position since 2019,

The board then voted Wednesday to elect Francis De Luca, one of the new Republican members, as its chair in a 3-2 vote. The Democratic members said they would have preferred that Stacy “Four” Eggers, a longtime Republican board member, be the chair instead.

The North Carolina elections board ousted its widely respected executive director Wednesday in a partisan move that will put Republicans in control of election operations in the political swing state,