When the Swain County Board of Elections didn’t get the response it wanted from the county commissioners, it decided to ask the state for an answer to a retirement benefits dispute that has been going on for about 10 years.

“We’re not on trial here,” said Swain Commission Chairman Paul Carson. 

But the commissioners’ meeting room did feel more like a courtroom once Board of Elections Chairman John Herrin took a seat in front of the board last week and laid out all of the paperwork to prove his case.

It could be just a matter of months before District Attorney Ashley Welch decides whether to press charges in a year-old case of alleged embezzlement at the Macon County Board of Elections, but the investigation still has legs on the federal level.

More than three months after the State Bureau of Investigation started looking into $50,000 worth of embezzlement from the Macon County Board of Elections, a return to normalcy is in sight for the elections office. Kim Bishop, the county elections director who was placed on paid investigative leave when the investigation launched, has submitted her resignation, and the county board has sent the state board its recommendation for her replacement.

It’s been three months since Macon County officials unearthed $50,000 worth of embezzlement, but a return to normalcy is just beginning to crack the horizon at the Macon County Board of Elections. Hours after sending a petition requesting that the state board remove the elections director suspected of stealing the money, the board got the OK from county commissioners for the funds it now needs to get through the rest of the fiscal year. 

The Swain County Board of Commissioners heard concerns from a county election board member last week over the adequacy of the county’s early voting station.

An election protest in Swain County over alleged irregularities in the May 2 primary was dismissed in a 2 to 1 vote by the local election board last week but will be appealed to the state election board for a second ruling.