Cumberland County Elections Director Targeted for Termination

The Republican majority on the Cumberland County Board of Elections is seeking to fire county Elections Director Angie Amaro. The reasons are secret.

Amaro on Monday declined to comment on the effort.

She has been the elections director since January 1, 2022—first as the interim director after the previous director retired, and then appointed permanently in October of that year. She has worked for the county elections office since February 2002. Amaro’s salary is $102,822.

The three Republicans on the five-person elections board—Chair Linda Devore, Secretary Bree Eldridge, and member Ryan Johnson—signed a petition dated April 2 that asks Sam Hayes, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, to fire Amaro.

Under state law, such petitions are normally kept secret. Democratic elections board member Irene Grimes made it public on Sunday when she published a page from the petition on Facebook, as well as a letter that Hayes sent to Amaro to notify her of it. Amaro received the notice on Saturday, Grimes told CityView.

The Cumberland County elections office has eight full-time employees and a part-time worker, Devore said. During elections, the office hires hundreds of temporary workers to staff the county’s 77 voting precincts. The county has more than 220,000 registered voters.

Devore told CityView that state law prevents her from commenting on personnel matters.

A document listing Devore’s reasons was sent to Amaro.

Simmering Issue?

There have been hints that this might happen.

The county Board of Elections held closed-door meetings twice recently to discuss personnel matters, most recently on April 1, one day before the majority issued the petition to remove Amaro. Another closed-door meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

A disagreement between Amaro and Devore surfaced in March when a longtime elections watchdog filed a complaint against Devore with the State Board of Elections and asked for her to be removed from office. The complaint—which was dismissed on Thursday—accused Devore of bullying and authoritarian leadership, political bias in favor of Republicans, conflict of interest, and failing to report an allegedly illegal campaign contribution.

The complaint against Devore cited a dispute between her and Amaro in February regarding where candidates and their supporters were allowed to place campaign materials outside voting sites during early voting for the March 3 primary. The county elections board made changes to the policy in January; Devore told CityView in March that the new policy was not being carried out.

Devore sent CityView emails between herself and Amaro about the incident. The two appeared to argue and have a breakdown in communication.

The complaint against Devore had nothing to do with the decision to file the petition against Amaro, Devore said. “No, those two are not connected, as far as I know. Not from my perspective,” she said.

Democrats Want to Keep Elections Director

The Democratic members of the county elections board, Grimes and Derek Edmonds, lauded Amaro’s work. They plan to help her challenge the petition to remove her.

“She has quite frankly blown me away,” Grimes said, citing as examples Amaro’s effort to improve staff training and establish plans to operate in the event of an emergency.

Amaro proactively catches problems and helps the board resolve them, Edmonds said. “She has done a ridiculously good job over her time there, in both capacities as an employee and as a director of the Board of Elections,” he said.

Edmonds blasted Devore. “I don’t like tyrants. I don’t like people that stand over people and berate them with a smile,” he said.

He and Grimes question replacing an elections director as North Carolina is preparing to hold elections in November. The hotly contested race for U.S. Senate is at the top of the ballot.

Devore declined to comment on whether a new director could be hired in time to run the fall elections. “That’s not before our board right now,” she said.

The board of elections seeks to better the elections office, she said.

“We are a forward-looking board. We always have been,” Devore said. “We want to see election integrity. We see trust and transparency. We want to see accuracy in the reporting of our election results, how we consider ballots, and that’s our goal, and that’s what we work toward.”

The elections board has asked the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners to increase the pay for the elections staff and add personnel, Devore said. The additional funds are to ensure the elections office is prepared for the fall elections and the presidential election in 2028.

Paid by County, Hired and Fired by State

Although county elections directors are paid by their county governments, their hiring and firing process is different from that of most other county employees.

Under state law, the county elections board votes on who it wants to hire. It sends that selection as a recommendation to the state elections executive director. The state elections director shall appoint that candidate “unless good cause exists to decline the appointment,” the law says. If the state executive director rejects the candidate, the state Board of Elections can review and overrule that decision.

Similarly, if a county board of elections wants to fire an elections director, the county board petitions the state executive director. “The petition shall clearly state the reasons for termination,” the law says, and it must be signed by a majority of the board members.

The county elections director has 15 days to reply to the petition. Then the state executive director decides whether to fire or retain the director. That decision is final unless the state Board of Elections chooses to take up the matter.

Two other elections directors in North Carolina could also lose their jobs—in New Hanover County, Port City Daily reported, and Anson County, according to The Carolina Journal.

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

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