By Catharin Shepard • Staff writer • Five people will take the oath of office in July as the new Hoke County Board of Elections.

Under state law, the board will be made up of two Republicans and three Democrats. Gene Shelnutt and Emily Weidner will be the Republican members, and Walter Blue and Linda Revels will be the Democrat members. Lornette McCaskill, an incumbent Democrat member, is currently the chairwoman of the board and anticipated to be reappointed in that role.

Revels is the new incoming member of the Hoke Board of Elections. The others are returning members.

In North Carolina, county elections boards are made up of an uneven number of members with a single member advantage to the party of the sitting state governor. The governor appoints the chair of each county board.

The North Carolina Board of Elections finalized the list of the appointed members this week and informed the county of its approval, Hoke Elections Director Towanna Dixon said in an email Tuesday.

The last meeting for the current board will be July 9. The new board will take appointment at noon July 20, at a meeting that by law must be held in person either at the county courthouse or the elections board office.

The terms for all county elections board members are two years and will run from July 2021 to July 2023. The current board will continue to serve until the new board is sworn in.

The new board will select its secretary at the meeting. The secretary’s role is to ensure that the minutes are kept current and accurate, though that responsibility may be delegated to staff, according to an email from Dixon.

The board will also meet in August to appoint precinct officials for the upcoming municipal elections in Raeford.