SALISBURY — A recent state law has shaken up the process to selecting members of the state and local board of elections, and that change has taken effect in Rowan County as the board of elections has a new chair and two new members.

Republican Dwight “Dave” Collins, a longtime member of the Rowan County Board of Elections and a former chairman, was appointed the new chair by State Auditor Dave Boliek, replacing Democrat John Hudson, who had been appointed multiple times by governors Roy Cooper and Josh Stein.

Hudson was reappointed to the board along with Catrelia Hunter as the Democratic representatives. On the Republican side, Collins was reappointed and Elaine Hewitt and John Leatherman were newly appointed. Hewitt has previously served on the board while Leatherman is a first-time appointee, said Board of Elections Director Sharon Main.

Democrat Kenneth Stutts was not reappointed to his position along with Republican Lutricia Cain.

Appointees to the board are made by the State Board of Elections.

The county board of elections makes the decisions on local issues, such as the appointment of the county board of elections director, the early voting schedules, the locations of polling places and deciding whether to accept provisional ballots.

Last year, Stutts, Hudson, Cain and Hunter had a complaint filed against them for counting the votes of 13 people who voted early but died before Election Day, which violated a state memo. The state board at the time voted not to remove them from their positions, but members admonished the board for its failure to follow state procedure.

The change this year comes from a bill, S.B. 382, passed by the state legislature, which transferred oversight from the Secretary of State’s office to the State Auditor’s office and transferred the powers of appointment to the state board to Boliek from the governor’s office.

With that change, the state boards and local boards across the state are now governed by a Republican majority and a Republican chair for the first time since Pat McCrory held the governor’s office in 2016.

S.B. 382, which was passed along party lines with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats voting against, pulls the authority away from a governor’s office that has overwhelmingly been Democratic for the past 100 years, with McCrory, James Holsouser and James Martin holding the officer for a combined 16 years in that span.

Boliek and Leslie W. Merritt Jr., who served from 2005 to 2009, represent the only Republicans elected as state auditors since the Civil War.

Main said that the new members and chairman will be sworn in at the board’s July 22 meeting, scheduled for noon at the elections office, 1935 Jake Alexander Blvd. W., Salisbury. The terms of the board members began on Wednesday and will run through July 19, 2027.