A Jackson County GOP leader denied influence on local party decisions by the North Carolina Republican Party and the state auditor’s office but said the groups were “trying to strong arm” election officials into eliminating Western Carolina University’s polling place, text messages obtained by NC Local show.
The texts – from Jackson County GOP chair Justin Castle to local elections board member Jay Pavey – show Castle taking issue with state Republican leaders reportedly pressuring Pavey and others.
He wrote: “We also want you to know that we did not like the NCGOP or the auditor’s office trying to strong arm you guys.” NC Local obtained a screenshot of the text from a public records request.
"Our office has regular communication with local board chairs," a spokesperson for the State Auditor Boliek said in an email to NC Local.
Boliek confirmed to WLOS that he discussed the issue with local board chair Bill Thompson. Boliek’s office did not respond to an interview request from NC Local.
When asked about communications with local boards, a Republican state party spokesperson responded with a statement:
“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.”
Pavey told NC Local that the text messages came after he and fellow Republican board member Wes Hanemayer met with the executive committee of the Jackson County GOP. During the meeting, party leaders and Republican elections board members discussed the pros and cons of locations under consideration for early voting during the November midterms.
In the text message, Castle thanked the men “for coming over to speak with us. I hope it was not intimidating!” Pavey told NC Local he did not feel that the local GOP meeting was intimidating.
Hanemayer and Pavey advocated for the “logical” use of WCU’s on-campus Health and Human Sciences building as a polling place, according to the texts. But in the texts, Castle said leaders believed the Cullowhee Recreation Center would better align with the “culture” of Jackson County voters.
Later in the message, Castle denies influence by state leaders. “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,” the text said.
The messages concluded with a reminder about the role of the party.
“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 to that commitment that you guys had promised us at your nominations,” Castle wrote before signing the messages, “The JCGOP Executive Committee.”
Pavey told NC Local he did not respond to the messages. Castle did not respond to additional questions from NC Local about the texts before publication.
Long-running debate over on-campus voting
The debate over the location of the polling place has unfolded over the last several years, against a backdrop of shifting political power at the state level.
County election boards vote on polling locations, but any decisions that are not unanimous must go to the state elections board. The state election board was appointed by North Carolina's governor until 2024, when the Republican-controlled legislature voted to shift appointment power to the state auditor. State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican, appointed three Republicans to the five-person board. All 100 local boards also have a Republican majority and chair.
For the 2026 primary, the Jackson County board voted along party lines to remove a polling place on-campus during early voting. That sent the decision to the Republican-majority state board, which sided with the local board’s vote to eliminate the on-campus voting location making the closest site to WCU the Cullowhee Recreation Center site about half a mile off campus.
Despite party divide over the locations, an analysis of voting data by Western Carolina University Professor Chris Cooper showed the on-campus voting location increased early voter turnout among young people in Jackson County in recent election years. However, youth voter turnout did not appear to move election results to the left, or to Democratic candidates, Cooper’s analysis found.
“Although we cannot say how any individual voter voted—at WCU or elsewhere—there is good evidence that the electorate at WCU does not heavily favor liberal candidates, and we can say with certainty that it did not move the county leftward,” he wrote in the report on polling place data published last December.
Last week, Pavey broke with his party to join the board’s two Democratic members in favor of a plan to bring a site back on campus. Hanemayer resigned before the meeting, leaving board chair Thompson as the lone vote against the Health and Human Services building location. Thompson told the board he was voting against the plan because of “pressure from above.”
In a resignation letter obtained by the News & Observer, addressed to “Jay and Bill,” Hanemayer said he felt that a line had been crossed in his service of the board.
“If third parties feel they can demand that I take a completely illogical path that means they are convinced they have control. With that being a clear conflict of conscience I choose not to be part of the JCBOE and submit to their control,” the letter said.
This letter differed from his official resignation to the Jackson Board of Elections Director Amanda Allen and Thompson, which simply read, “Please consider this as my official resignation from the JCBOE.”
Local Party Chair Castle told NC Local the Jackson County GOP has started the process to nominate someone to fill the seat vacated by Hanemayer.
The State Board's role
In a statement to NC Local, a State Board of Elections spokesperson denied any involvement.
“The current leadership of NC State Board of Elections has never directed or tried to persuade county board members to vote in a certain way on election related matters,” NCSBE Director of External Affairs Jason Tyson said in an email.
Pavey said he has never spoken to a member of the board of elections leadership or staff. Thompson and Hanemayer did not respond to requests for comment.
The State Board will make a final decision on the Jackson County polling locations at a meeting later this summer.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.