Cumberland County Elections Chair Faces Third Complaint in 13 Months

An employee of the Cumberland County Board of Elections has filed a complaint against Board of Elections Chair Linda Devore, accusing her of breaking the law by interfering with the office’s operations, coercion, and questioning him about a private family health matter.

He asserted that Devore offered him a “professional bribe” of promotion to a yet-to-be-created management position in the elections office to dissuade him “from reporting or opposing the Chairwoman’s conduct.”

Devore told CityView the accusations are untrue.

Joshua Dovi, an information technology support technician, filed the complaint with the N.C. Board of Elections on June 2. The board is scheduled to consider the complaint on Wednesday.

This is the third state elections board complaint levied against Devore in the past 13 months. The board dismissed the two previous complaints.

The newest complaint comes as county Elections Director Angie Amaro is on paid leave because Devore and the other two Republican members of the five-person county elections board want Amaro fired. Much of Dovi’s complaint is in relation to Amaro’s situation.

The complaint also comes as the nine-person county elections office has three vacancies, not including Amaro’s absence, as the 2026 general elections are getting underway.

According to some details of Dovi’s complaint:

• Dovi said Devore had an unfounded mistrust of the county’s vote-counting machines. Devore told CityView this is wrong—she finds the machines to be highly reliable.
• She got deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of the elections office, which Dovi said is beyond her authority as an elections board member. This includes calling meetings between herself and the staff. Devore disputes that she was that involved.
• Devore sought to set policies on her own for the election office’s operations, instead of by a vote of the elections board. The board sets policies, Devore said.

Voting Machine Conversations

Devore “on multiple occasions” questioned Dovi in hour-long conversations about the reliability and security of the voting machines, he said. Dovi told Devore the machines met their required specifications and operated correctly.

“Despite these repeated assurances, the Chairwoman continued to raise unfounded concerns, demonstrating a pattern of interference with staff functions and a potential lack of competency to discharge her duties as Chair,” he wrote.

“I have never questioned the accuracy or reliability of our voting equipment,” Devore told CityView.

“I speak often about the reliability of our tabulating equipment, and consider it unsurpassed across the country,” she said. “Josh and I had a discussion about potential advantages of upgrading our DS200 tabulators to newer DS300 models, however, my conclusion was there did not appear to be appreciable performance improvements other than perhaps our download speeds on election night.”

Remote Work Policy

Dovi’s complaint makes references to a policy, but doesn’t describe or name it. Devore said it’s about employees working remotely instead of in the office.

Amaro appears to have been allowed one employee to work remotely even though the board never approved a remote work policy, Devore said.

“Telework was initially brought to our board’s attention by employees who were concerned that there was not consistency within the office,” Devore said.

Dovi said Devore questioned him in multiple conversations about why he supports a remote work policy.

“Despite the Complainant stating clearly and repeatedly that the matter was private and that they did not wish to discuss it, the Chairwoman persisted,” he said.

Devore said Dovi on April 29 submitted a proposal for a remote work policy to the board, which discussed it during a May 1 meeting..

“During this meeting, before the full Board, the Chairwoman pressured the Complainant to disclose a sensitive personal and family health matter,” Dovi wrote.

“Despite the Complainant’s repeated refusals and explanations that the matter was private, the Chairwoman continued to press until the Complainant was effectively compelled to disclose protected personal health information,” he said. “This conduct constitutes a violation of the Complainant’s privacy rights and may implicate protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as applicable state law protections regarding the confidentiality of personal health information.”

The elections board is still considering a remote work policy, Devore said.

Job Offer Bribe?

On May 18, Dovi said, Devore encouraged him in an email to apply for a higher-level management position, one he previously declined. The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners has not approved the position.

“The Chairwoman’s stated rationale for renewing this offer was the Complainant’s demonstrated professional ability to assume greater responsibility during the Director’s absence, an absence directly resulting from the Director being placed under investigation and administrative leave, circumstances the Chairwoman herself set in motion through her aggressive involvement in office affairs and staff matters as described throughout this complaint,” Dovi wrote.

Dovi interpreted the email as “improper inducement, in effect, a professional bribe, intended to discourage the Complainant from reporting or opposing the Chairwoman’s conduct.

“The creation of a new position of authority by a Board Chair, offered privately to an employee who has been subjected to the Chairwoman’s pattern of pressure and coercion, raises serious concerns about the integrity of the office and the Chairwoman’s fitness to discharge her duties,” he wrote.

This was not an attempted bribe, Devore said.

“The election position briefly discussed with Mr. Dovi was developed by the board last October, and is currently under consideration by county commissioners in their personnel budget discussions,” she said. “It was not considered or developed for him or with him in mind, and if we receive funding, it will be advertised and open to all qualified candidates.”

The Board of Elections approved a request to the county for new positions on October 31, according to meeting minutes and a recording of the meeting.

Previous Complaints Against Devore

Devore has faced two more elections complaints since May 2025.

One, filed by a fellow Republican, said Devore broke a conflict-of-interest law for elections board members, based on her activities to help the North Carolina Republican Party hold its annual convention.

The other, filed by a longtime elections watchdog, included affidavits from Cumberland County Republican activists. It alleged Devore failed to report an allegedly illegal political donation, and that she had a conflict of interest between her role on the county Board of Elections and her position as chair of the audit committee of Cumberland County Republican Party.

The complaint also asserted that Devore exercised authoritarian leadership with “frequent ‘belittling,’ ‘bullying’ and ‘beating up’” on staff members.

The State Board of Elections dismissed both complaints.

Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.

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