The State Board of Elections on Thursday welcomed its newest members, Republicans Tommy Tucker and Stacy “Four” Eggers IV, who were appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper this week.
The new members, sworn in during a State Board meeting Thursday afternoon, replace former members David Black and Ken Raymond, who recently resigned from the board.
“We welcome the new State Board members and appreciate their service to North Carolina voters,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board.
Tucker, of Union County, is a former state senator who served four terms from 2011 to 2019. Eggers, of Watauga County, is a lawyer and formerly served on the Watauga County Board of Elections and the State Board of Elections.
During the meeting, Brinson Bell gave the board an update on the 2020 elections process, highlighting absentee voting numbers and poll worker recruitment efforts.
As of Thursday, more than 1.2 million absentee ballots have been requested and more than 420,000 have been accepted by county boards of elections. In the 2016 presidential election, less than 200,000 ballots were cast by mail.
Before starting poll worker recruitment efforts, the State Board estimated that 25,000 to 30,000 election workers would be needed between early voting sites and Election Day polling places. Through Thursday, more than 46,000 people had completed the election worker interest survey, part of the State Board’s Democracy Heroes campaign. Many of them have been hired by county boards of elections.
“We sought the public’s help to make sure in-person voting could go on, despite the pandemic, and we are extremely proud of the response from across North Carolina,” said Noah Grant, a State Board spokesman. “So voters, please thank your poll workers for making sure your vote counts.”
For more absentee voting data, visit https://www.ncsbe.gov/results-data/absentee-data. For more on serving in the upcoming election, visit https://www.ncsbe.gov/about-elections/get-involved-elections.
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