Jackson County Board of Elections member Jay Pavey described his choice of two potential Cullowhee early voting sites to be a “no brainer.”

When compared to the “approximately 300 square foot” space at the Cullowhee Recreation Center, Pavey, a Republican, said the “1,100, 1,200 square feet” at Western Carolina University’s satellite Health and Human Sciences building — 1.7 miles from campus but accessible to students through WCU’s Cat-Tran transportation system — is substantially better for Jackson County residents. 

Early voting in Cullowhee is expected to draw in between 5,000 and 7,000 voters.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, the rec center can’t handle that. It just can’t,” Pavey told The Smoky Mountain News.

Yet Pavey’s June 2 vote for HHS alongside Democrats Roy Osborne and Betsy Swift might’ve tanked his prospects for serving another term.  

Under pressure

Pavey said he and former Jackson BOE Secretary Wes Hanemayer, a Republican who resigned May 26, had begun communicating with an overly accommodating WCU to secure the HHS facility immediately after the primaries.

“The university bent over backwards and gave us everything we asked for,” Pavey said.

On May 15, he visited both potential sites alongside Jackson GOP Chairman Justin Castle, explaining his support for the HHS building while Castle took photos to integrate into a slideshow. But during this tour, Pavey learned something graver: were he to vote against the rec center, a North Carolina official — perhaps out of State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office — would personally have him removed from the board. That message only angered the Jackson County Republican.

“I said, ‘If [this official] wants to call me himself, I don’t think that conversation would go well,’” Pavey recounted. “I’d probably tell him to kiss my ass.” 

The next week, he and Hanemayer appeared before the Jackson County Republican Party Executive Committee to justify their pro-HHS decision. Hanemayer clarified the statistics — capacity, space, accessibility — while Pavey emphasized the differences between the two prospective locations.

“At first, there was great pushback from the members of the committee about it,” he noted.

Further into the May 22 discussion, the two BOE members tried explaining that the board might risk a lawsuit with the rec center location and be forced to re-open the former Primary Election polling site at the University Center. The board’s 3-2 party-lines vote earlier this year to close the campus site along was highly controversial, sparking outcry and generating media attention. Pavey said the January move was first suggested by Jackson BOE Chair Bill Thompson.

“Bill approached me and Wes [Hanemayer], and said, ‘We really would like to close this on-campus site, and here’s why,’” Pavey told SMN, recounting that it made sense after looking at the numbers.

Though operating the location only cost $20,000 within a budget of millions, Pavey said the site was underutilized, framing its closure as a fiscally responsible decision. Compared to the county’s 20-22% Primary Election turnout, only 543 Primary ballots were cast in 2024, representing 4.5% of WCU’s student population.

Because the commute between campus and the rec center involves a relatively busy highway, losing the University Center complicated several hundred voters’ ability to cast a Primary ballot, particularly those without a car. However, Pavey said the goal was never to disenfranchise students; he’d backed HHS in part because come November, the rec center alone would leave too many at WCU without a viable polling option.

“Our whole goal was, at least from my perspective, to find one location in Cullowhee that was good for everybody. Now, that site didn’t have to necessarily be on campus, but it could be on campus,” he said.

In addition to invoking the potential of a lawsuit, Pavey and Hanemayer at the May 22 committee meeting clarified why HHS would be in the best interest of town and county residents, but the effort was unsuccessful. Pavey and Hanemayer received a text from Castle on behalf of the Jackson County GOP Executive Committee on May 26 at 11:50 a.m. Pavey sent a copy of the message to SMN. In it, Castle thanked the two board members for speaking with the county Republican Party.

“We also want you to know that we did not like the NCGOP or the auditor’s office trying to strong arm you guys,” Castle wrote.

“With that said, for most of the board, your analysis of the HHS site provides a logical conclusion – if we are looking strictly at data. But, we have to add the element of culture and how voters of Jackson County are,” the text continued.

Castle and the JCGOP argued changing locations would “disrupt many longtime voters” and asserted that county commissioners’ existing relationship with the Rec Center was preferable to “having to deal with the bureaucracy of WCU.”  The text also addressed the added “factor” of a lawsuit.

“It may go our way or it may not,” Castle wrote.

“But, as you all have already demonstrated at the student level, the suppression of the non-student voter with an on-campus site, let the Dems try to make the case by suppressing votes at the Rec Center. These [sic] worst case situation, they revert us back to the way it was and we have dealt with that before.

“These are some of the main highlights that, as a board, we would like for you all to stay with the Rec Center. This was by no means impacted by the NCGOP or the auditor’s office. Yes, we have tasked you with a responsibility by being on the Board of Elections, but you are also our representatives on that board and we would like for you all to hold that commitment that you guys had promised us at your nominations.” 

Hanemayer resigned at 12:36 p.m. May 26, 46 minutes after Castle sent the above message. “Bill and Amanda: Please consider this my official resignation from JCBOE,” Hanemayer wrote. On May 27, he followed up with, “Amanda: Please let me know when my BOE email, building security access and google drive access are deactivated.” 

Director Amanda Allen replied that tech would be shut down that day; his key card had already been deactivated. Thus, Hanemayer was not present for the June 2 meeting and vote in favor of HHS, when talk of Raleigh’s pressure became public.

Thompson was the sole dissenter of the remaining four members. He did not respond to an SMN request for comment. But even Thompson being the single holdout sends a county’s proposal to the State Board of Elections for the body’s approval. Pavey recounted the chair had said his sole reason for supporting the site was pressure from Raleigh — the same pressure the former had heard about and indirectly experienced.

“You’re voting for the rec center not because its better; you’re voting for the rec center because you’re getting the pressure from Raleigh. I’m getting pressure from Raleigh too. But I don’t care. When I walk out of here, I’m going to walk out of here with my head held high, because I know that I have voted for what I think is the best thing for the residents of Jackson County,” Pavey told Thompson June 2.

The state context

Jackson County’s controversy has occurred in tandem with an NCSBE that has undergone a myriad of changes.

Since 1901, the governor has appointed state BOE membersand county BOE chairs, but a 2024 General Assembly lame duck session law first described as ‘disaster relief’ stripped Democratic Gov. Josh Stein of these powers in favor of housing the office under Boliek, who is a Republican. Boliek has come into the role focused on upgrading what he asserts is an antiquated voting system. He has talked extensively about his handpicked bipartisan commission called Modernization of Election Data Systems at the forefront of this initiative.

“I put 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats on a commission to help form and inform the state board and make some determinations of what do the people want, and let’s get a computer system and let’s get a system for running elections that everybody can get behind,” he told PBS. MEDS, however, is a 22-member commission, which by virtue cannot include 12 individuals from both major parties. Indeed, several members are unaffiliated or nonpartisan, including WCU professor and elections expert Chris Cooper. Four have been elected or appointed as Democrats; four have been elected or appointed as Republicans.

In late April, the NCSBE, voting 3-2 along party lines, enacted four rules dictating non-citizen records maintenance, despite opposition expressed by nearly all public commenters and data from a nationwide 23.5-million voter study indicating only 30 instances of non-citizen ballots. The state board has also recently released a three-part modification to election administration that restricts amplified sound at polls, allows county BOEs to discard voter ID exception form ballots — an action currently requiring board unanimity — with a simple 3-2 majority and introduces an extra hurdle for voters submitting sealed absentee ballots that lack a personal corresponding envelope.  

According to voting rights advocates, these changes, if enacted, would undermine community initiatives that have historically mobilized countless Black, brown and young voters. The groups claim these rules also risk party-based ballot rejections and disenfranchisement of mail-in voters — many of whom are victims of natural disasters or disabled, elderly and homebound individuals. The public comment period for the proposal opened May 15 and ends June 14.

“There had been concern expressed over the elimination of the rec center site, which has been used for nearly 20 years, and has been one of the most utilized sites in the county. Ultimately, these decisions are made by local boards and the State Board,” wrote Randy Brechbiel, spokesperson for the state auditor, after an SMN inquiry about the office’s potential involvement in pressuring Jackson County elections officials. 

“The NCGOP is deeply committed to ensuring access to early voting locations for all eligible voters and we are appreciative of the efforts from Auditor Dave Boliek and the State Board to maintain clean voter rolls and integrity in the administration of elections,” said NCGOP Spokesperson Matt Mercer in response to a similar SMN request for comment. 

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said the office that supervises the state BOE  — formerly the governor, currently the state auditor — appoints county and state BOE members. Instead, the auditor’s office only appoints state members and county chairs, while the state elections board appoints county members. 

This story has been updated with a June 11 statement from the state auditor’s office.