‘Nothing nefarious’? Bless Dave Boliek and NC Republicans’ cheating hearts

When state Auditor David Boliek won his race for the office in 2024, he said: “I’m going to leave the party politics at the door when it comes to the job of the state auditor.” Bless his cheating heart.

Of course, Boliek also told Donald Trump, “I’m only in politics for you, sir” – in order to get the lawless, election-denying president’s full, “I’m for you all the way endorsement.” (It seems, according to Trump, Boliek even got the obsequious “sir” part of the plea right.) And senator-elect Sam Page says Boliek campaigned with Phil Berger in their race. So maybe Boliek’s idea of “leaving party politics at the door” is an odd one.

In December 2024, NC Republican lawmakers – in clear violation of the text of Article III of the State Constitution – stripped the power to appoint and oversee the NC State Board of Elections from Gov. Josh Stein and awarded it to the newly-elected Republican auditor. North Carolina thus became the first (and only) state to lodge election oversight in its auditor’s office. Phil Berger explained it was only “fair.”

The NC Supreme Court – following its rigid post-January 2023 ultra-partisan pattern – illegitimately blessed the Republican power-grab, allowing the Boliek takeover. Boliek quickly appointed two of the most partisan Republicans in state history – Bob Rucho and Francis De Luca – to the board. Then, if possible, Boliek upped the ante, naming the notorious Dallas Woodhouse, former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, to a newly-created “elections liaison” position. Politics had apparently not been left “at the door.” It was sitting comfortably at the dinner table.

Woodhouse has now resigned. (Bob Rucho resigned from the board in March 2026 after revelations that he’d made political contributions in apparent violation of state law.) Woodhouse had been “reassigned” from the elections liaison job in early July – after accusations surfaced of his purported “improper influence over early voting plans.” The board voted 3-2 along party lines, in mid-July, against forcing Woodhouse to testify about his communications with county election board members.

The News & Observer reported that “in recent months news stories have proliferated about Woodhouse’s communications with election officials.” Republican Jackson County board members said they’d been pressured to reject a Western Carolina University early voting sight. “Don’t let them have a vote” (on the polling issue), Woodhouse wrote. Republican board member Wes Hanemayer resigned because his “moral position” had been called into question. The Pasquotank County board chair was told to “drop Sunday” voting. More recently, Woodhouse fretted in an email to a Lee County official: “We are going to get (expletive) for removing Sundays in so many places.” You get the gist.

Boliek defended Woodhouse, telling CBS 17, “some of the language would not have been my choice, but there’s nothing nefarious.” Nothing “unexpected” might have been more accurate.

But it’s too precious to lay all this at the feet of Dallas Woodhouse. Cheating on elections is the central tenet of the NC Republican Party. The General Assembly does it like a religion. The Republican Supreme Court has sworn off “fair elections.” They even tried their damnedest to steal a North Carolina Supreme Court seat. If a Council of State member tries to put a thumb on the scales, more power to him. After all, the Republican president spends almost as much energy trying to overturn elections as he does putting money into his pocket. All his nominees are required to publicly applaud the project.

To butcher the great Dylan song, “It’s Alright Ma, We’re Only Cheating.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline “‘Nothing nefarious’? Bless Dave Boliek and NC Republicans’ cheating hearts | Opinion.”