Elections Board Member Who Helped Spur Investigation Won't Return

Former state elections board chairman Josh Malcolm, who indirectly sparked an election fraud investigation, said Thursday he will not serve on a new board. 

In November, then vice-chair Malcolm expressed concerns over what he called “unfortunate activities” in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District. The bipartisan board eventually declined to certify the election of Republican Mark Harris, whose contest against Democrat Dan McCready remains unresolved. An investigation into absentee ballot fraud is underway.

The elections board was dissolved because of a separate long-running case, and a new five-member panel is expected to be named by Gov. Roy Cooper at the end of January.

Malcolm, a Robeson County Democrat, tells The News and Observer that he does not want to be considered for the new board, but that he was honored by his previous appointment.

Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the state GOP responded by saying “the people of North Carolina are certainly better without him on the board.”