The Beaufort County Board of Elections is in a holding pattern as the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office gathers data on what it would take for 44 eastern North Carolina counties to comply with a federal subpoena for voters’ records.

Beaufort County was one of the 44 counties asked on Aug. 31 to turn over a list of records to a U.S. Department of Justice Eastern District and Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into voter fraud, prompting the state Board of Elections and Ethics to balk due to the large scope of information demanded, some of which could violate voters’ privacy and overwhelm the staffs of the small boards for elections.

Since, there have been numerous phone calls between the counties’ attorneys and representatives from both the N.C. Association of County Commissioners and the state Attorney General’s Office, according to Beaufort County Attorney David Francisco.

Francisco gave an update as to where the issue stood during the last Beaufort County Board of Commissioners meeting. He confirmed that the deadline for the materials was still Jan. 1, 2019, an extension of the original deadline of Sept. 25.

“In the meantime, the subpoenaed counties are encouraged to begin compiling the subpoenaed information,” Francisco said.

The counties’ boards of elections were also asked via an Oct. 29 email to gather information for the state Attorney General’s Office, including: how many total responsive documents would have to copied or scanned; the limitations of each board that could prevent compliance, such as number of employees or budget constraints; an estimate of how much it would cost to comply with the federal subpoena; and any other areas that would “speak to the level of the burden of the request.”

“We are going to explain to the powers that be what it’s going to cost to comply and see if something can be done,” Francisco said. “In addition, we have asked the state to assist in the expense to the 44 counties that have been asked to comply with this. … We’re doing the best we can to comply, and we’ll go from there.”

Beaufort County’s Board of Elections Director Kellie Hopkins said she’ll be taking up the request for information this week, as her office has been very busy.

“I’m trying to get the election stuff out of the way,” Hopkins said.

Six to one, commissioners have sided with the Board of Elections and Ethics’ use of the state Attorney General’s Office to question the federal government’s demand. However, Commissioner Hood Richardson has requested Beaufort County remove itself from NCDOJ representation, comply with the subpoena, request the USDOJ make the subpoena a bit more practical in its scope and foot the bill for the additional hours and employees needed to complete the task.

The USDOJ has requested the following documents from Aug. 30, 2013 to Aug. 30, 2018: Any and all poll books, e-poll books, voting records, and/or voter authorization documents and executed officials ballots (including absentee official ballots), that were submitted to, filed by, received by, and/or maintained by the Beaufort County Board of Elections from August 30, 2013 through August 30, 2018, in addition to the following: Standard Voter Registration Application forms; Federal Post Card Applications (FPCA); Federal Write-In-Absentee Ballots (FWAB); One-Stop (Early Voting) application forms; Provisional Voting forms; N.C. Absentee Ballot Request forms; any and all “Admission or Denial of Non-Citizen Return Form” that were generated by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, or were caused to be generated by the North Carolina Board of Elections, and/or the Ethics Enforcement Office; any and all Voter Registration Cancellation or Voter Revocation forms that have been generated by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and/or the Ethics Enforcement Office.

“The cost and the time it would take — we don’t have that kind of staff,” Commissioner Ed Booth said of the documents request. “That would take our little staff forever to get those documents together.”