It would seem so. According to Ted Hicks, Durham Republican Party chairman, Durham Democrat Chair Tracey Burns-Vann made an unprecedented demand at the Aug. 16 Board of Elections meeting. According to a memo he sent to GOP faithful:
Last Tuesday, August 16th, the Board of Elections convened for what many expected to be a routine meeting. At this meeting, the Board was set to appoint the Precinct Judges, etc. for the upcoming elections. This was not to be.
The Durham Democrat Chair, Tracey Burns-Vann, was at that meeting and insisted that because the current Governor is a Democrat then all Chief Judges, therefore, must also be Democrats. The Republican Representative on the Board of Elections, Bill Brian, refused to go along with this and as a result an additional meeting has been scheduled for this coming Friday, August 26th at the Board of Elections Headquarters (706 West Corporation Street).
You should know that if the Durham Democratic Party accomplishes their objective here, the Republican Party will lose all 7 of our Chief Judges. We also stand to lose a significant number of additional precinct officials. You will no doubt agree that there is a reason that each Precinct is supposed to have a judge from both political parties. You will probably also agree that it would not bode well for the conservative effort to have every Precinct in Durham run by a Democrat Chief Judge.
Hicks’ memo urged Republicans to attend Friday’s meeting. Here he is discussing this issue at last Friday’s Durham Republican dinner:
P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, my daughter was the keynote speaker for that dinner, so I was in the crowd.
