The North Carolina elections board ousted its widely respected executive director Wednesday in a partisan move that will put Republicans in control of election operations in the political swing state,

The board then voted Wednesday to elect Francis De Luca, one of the new Republican members, as its chair in a 3-2 vote. The Democratic members said they would have preferred that Stacy “Four” Eggers, a longtime Republican board member, be the chair instead.

North Carolina's director of elections Karen Brinson Ball was ousted from her position by the newly minted GOP board of elections majority.