They’ve done it again.

The Guilford County Republican Party Executive Committee, at a meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 30, once again nominated Michael Logan for the open District 3 seat on the Guilford County Board of Education.

Logan was first nominated by the Guilford County GOP Executive Committee on Nov. 28, 2022, to fill the District 3 school board seat left vacant by Pat Tillman when he was elected District 3 Guilford County commissioner.

Usually the process of filling such a vacancy is fairly cut and dried.  The executive committee of the party of the elected official vacating the seat nominates a replacement and the board votes to accept the nomination.  However, the Democrats on the Guilford County Board of Education four times voted not to accept Logan.

The Guilford County GOP kept nominating Logan and the school board kept voting him down.  In March, the North Carolina legislature stepped into the dispute and passed a bill that removed the right of approval from the school board.

However, the school board found a way around that law and said that Logan was not properly nominated by the Guilford County GOP, which meant the school board could select any qualified voter from District 3, and the school board then voted to seat Bill Goebel as the District 3 school board member.

Goebel served as the District 3 school board member from April 4 until Aug. 17, when the legislature stepped in once again passing a bill that ended Goebel’s term on Aug. 17 and stating that the individual nominated by the Guilford County Republican Party Executive Committee “shall take the oath of office at the next regular meeting of the Board.”

Logan was nominated by the GOP executive committee on a vote of 41 to 1. Eric Strimple put his name up for consideration but did not attend the meeting and did not receive a single vote. The one vote that Logan didn’t receive was for Maria Adams.

There was an effort at the meeting to accept Logan by acclamation, but it was decided that having a formal vote was the better course of action.

According to the bill passed by the North Carolina General Assembly that became law on Aug. 17, the District 3 Guilford County Board of Education seat is vacant and the selection of the Guilford County Republican Party Executive Committee is to be sworn in and take his seat on the board at the next meeting of the board, which is Sept. 19.

However, this has been an ongoing battle since the December 2022 meeting of the Board of Education and it’s far too early to say that it’s over.