Board approves early‑voting worker lists and MAT roster; staff reported 59 R and 80 D nominations

Elections staff presented the county’s nominations for early‑voting workers and the proposed multi‑partisan assistance team (MAT) roster at the Dec. 8 Buncombe County Board of Elections meeting, and the board approved the recommendations by voice vote.

Karen (staff) told the board that 59 Republicans and 80 Democrats were nominated by party chairs for early‑voting appointments; of those, staff reported 36 Republicans had accepted, seven had not responded and 16 were unable to work, while 63 Democrats had accepted, nine had not responded and eight were unable to work. “We had, 59 Republicans nominated and 80 Democrats nominated,” Karen stated while reviewing the roster.

Board members discussed statutory constraints and parity for chief judge appointments, noting that the statute requires appointing from lists provided by party chairs but does not explicitly require exact parity. Members and staff emphasized voter service as the priority and discussed options to increase chief‑judge recruitment, including early training, mentoring and outreach to unaffiliated volunteers.

The board approved the staff’s MAT recommendations and accepted the early‑voting worker list by voice vote. Staff also presented a separate resolution to delegate authority to the director and outreach coordinator to appoint individuals to fill vacancies and emergency election‑day slots; the board adopted that resolution and asked staff to report appointments back to the board.

Staff highlighted a few outstanding vacancies (examples: Upper Hominy Valley with four slots and one Republican slot at West Asheville Library) and said they would continue outreach to fill remaining positions. Board members asked staff to return with vacancy appointments and to consider additional training/mentoring to expand the bench of chief judges.