Published June 24, 2026 at 4:43 PM EDT

The State Board of Elections has censured two longtime election board members in Wake County over a 2024 ballot counting decision.

Gerry Cohen and Greg Flynn are the two Democrats serving on the Wake County Board of Elections (the board's other three members are Republicans). During the 2024 election, they voted in favor of counting the ballots of three people who voted early but died before Election Day.

The state elections board found the decision violated rules set out in a memo from the state board. Both Cohen and Flynn say their decision was a mistake, and Flynn says he was concerned about a process that forced grieving relatives to attend a hearing on whether the dead person's vote should count.

"The purpose was to raise an issue that needed to be addressed by a higher body, either the Superior Court, either by the State Board of Elections or the legislature," Flynn said.

He and Cohen described an emotional hearing in which relatives of the voters who'd died after casting ballots early described their loved ones' final wishes to participate in the 2024 election.

"The process of sending out notices to be received by grieving family members, as required by law, was unspeakably cruel, especially in light of half the states counting those ballots," Cohen said.

Two of the Republican state board members sought to remove Cohen and Flynn from office, agreeing with the Buncombe County man who filed the complaint against the two Wake officials.

"I do find it a willful violation, and my reading of the statute is that we don't have lesser sanctions," said board member Stacy "Four" Eggers.

But Chairman Francis De Luca voted against that approach, siding with the two Democrats on the board. The board instead decided to censure them and allow them to complete their terms.

"I think because it was a judgment call that they say will not be repeated, and they're fine, longstanding, useful public servants, I think the fair thing to do is to reprimand, and go forward and let them serve our county and serve out their terms," said board member Siobhan Millen.

Meanwhile, the state House is considering legislation that would clarify how ballots should be handled when a voter dies before Election Day.

That bill spells out that ballots cast by people who died prior to 11:59 p.m. on the night before Election Day should not be counted.