Didn’t matter where candidate parked her car, as NC board lets Democrat stay on ballot

The majority-Democratic North Carolina State Board of Elections ruled that a Democratic legislative candidate whose residency was challenged can stay on the ballot.

The state board ruled Friday during an online meeting to reverse the decision of the Currituck County Board of Elections on appeal.

Ballot printing has already been delayed for the 10 counties in Senate District 3, where the Republican candidate, Bobby Hanig, filed an election protest against the Democratic candidate, Valerie Jordan, saying she did not live in her district as required.

Jordan did not dispute that she spent 23 consecutive nights this summer in the house she has owned in Raleigh since 1998, rather than her Warren County residence that is in the district. Senate District 3 includes Warren, Halifax, Northampton, Martin, Bertie, Hertford, Gates, Tyrrell, Camden and Currituck counties. Hanig lives in Currituck and filed his election protest there in August.

Like all local elections boards, Currituck’s board is controlled by the party of the governor, currently Democrats. But the local board ruled that there was enough evidence to question Jordan’s residency and referred the final decision to the state board. Jordan appealed it, and the state board reversed the decision on a 3-2 vote along party lines.

A campaign issue now

Hanig was just sworn in on Monday as a state senator to fill a vacant seat for which he resigned his House seat. Hanig represented coastal counties for two House terms.

In a phone interview with The News & Observer on Friday, Hanig said the board’s decision was “predetermined 100%” and “once again, the State Board of Elections has 100% showed its partisanship.”

Hanig said Jordan didn’t dispute her 23 days spent in Raleigh because she couldn’t.

“She continues to live in Raleigh,” he said. Hanig said that he will continue to make it a campaign issue.

“The things that we found in her testimony, continuing to contradict herself, will help in the campaign as well. Just one contradiction after another,” Hanig said.

His campaign is also discussing next moves in the courts, but hasn’t made a decision.

In an emailed statement, Jordan said Friday that she was “grateful” that the state board affirmed her residency in Warren County and called Hanig’s protest “political theater.”

“As I have said before, Warren County is my home, and I am proud of the deep roots that my family and I have here. I’m glad that Bobby Hanig’s political theater is behind us now, and I look forward to continuing to talk to voters in this district. They deserve a leader who will fight for them, not someone who wastes their time playing politics,” Jordan said.

Control of the North Carolina state legislature is up for grabs, and every race counts when it comes to who’s in charge. Republicans have a majority now and are hoping to make that a veto-proof supermajority. Democrats are hoping to at least prevent a supermajority if they don’t win a majority.

Clothes and photos vs. packages and bills

Arguments dealt with legal definitions of words like residence and domicile.

Jordan’s lawyer, John Wallace, argued that Jordan showed the intent of moving her domicile and residence from her house in Raleigh to her house in Warrenton, citing clothes, photographs and a bedroom set had been moved.

Hanig’s lawyer, Craig Schauer, argued that Jordan still had Amazon packages delivered, property tax bills and banking mail all sent to her house in Raleigh. Other evidence included photographs of her two cars parked in front of her Raleigh house for more than three weeks.

Wallace said they weren’t denying that Jordan spent that time at her Raleigh house and said she was there caring for her grandson.

Schauer argued there was “substantial evidence Jordan never abandoned her Raleigh residence.”

Schauer also argued that the appeal should not have been heard at all because of a deadline. But the state board decided that the appeal could be heard.

Gov. Roy Cooper is a Democrat, so Democrats have a majority on the five-member state board — three Democrats and two Republicans.

Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue told The N&O last week that Democrats though the hearing “would be fine.”

“I think that Valerie Jordan well-established her residency,” Blue said. He said legislators and others “tend to get a place to live where you work” and she has a job in Raleigh.

Blue said that “just because you’re here for 23 days, does not mean that your residency is here. The residency is a clearly legal concept, and she meets all the criteria of what residency is, but that’s not for me to decide.”

Virtual meeting

Hanig called the Board of Elections deciding to hold the meeting virtually “extremely disappointing.”

“That’s a telling tale right there,” he said, showing that Democrats had already decided the outcome.

Board of Elections spokesperson Pat Gannon said the meeting was held remotely because three of the five board members live hours away and “given how quickly it had to be called to consider the appeal.”

Stacy Eggers, a Republican member of the board, wanted to send the issue back to the Currituck board to “make more detailed proper findings of fact.” But Democratic board member Stella Anderson noted that ballots are already behind schedule on printing.

The Democratic majority won out, and Jordan stays on the ballot.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at https://campsite.bio/underthedome or wherever you get your podcasts.