North Carolina’s Republican state auditor has made appointments to a new State Board of Elections because an appeals court said a law can still be enforced while it is challenged by Democratic Gov.

In a win for Republicans, a North Carolina Appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday that a piece of legislation designed to strip power from state level elected Democrats and give Republicans control of the state election board in an overt power grab, can take effect.

The power shift upends the practice in place for over a century in which the governor alone has had the power to appoint members of election boards.