Partisan elections for school board, municipalities coming to Moore County?
Legislation making that happen is moving its way through the GOP-controlled legislature in Raleigh. Right now, the county school board and city councils provide the only opportunity for registered Democrats to get elected to something in this bright-red county. Senate Bill 876 – a conglomeration of provisions benefiting specific local locations across the state – is moving right along. In addition to the partisanship change, the bill also moves the county’s municipal elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years.
Here’s more from WUNC:
The state legislature is trying to make more municipal elections partisan. A bill approved in a state House committee Tuesday would change the election process for mayor and town boards in all 11 Moore County towns and the county’s school board, as well as the city of Albemarle.
The elections are currently held on a nonpartisan basis with no party labels on the ballot. Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, is sponsoring the bill, and he says voters should see those labels.
“The whole idea of going from nonpartisan to partisan is just letting everybody know what your belief system is,” he said, noting that most elected officials in Moore County are Republicans. “It’s just another identification mark, so what we’re wanting is transparency.”
But opponents of the change worry that unaffiliated candidates could be left out. Partisan elections require candidates to compete in primaries, and unaffiliated candidates would need to petition for ballot access. Unaffiliated voters, meanwhile, would have the option to select a Democratic or Republican primary ballot to select a nominee from a party’s candidates.
Rep. Phil Rubin, D-Wake, asked Jackson if the current town boards in all of Moore County’s towns were supporting the change.
“This has been in discussion for probably six months in Moore County,” he responded, noting that some of the towns are outside his House district. “All of the local municipalities are aware of that. … There’s been no feedback whatsoever from any municipalities.”
The bill would also move municipal elections in Moore County to even-numbered years. “Currently the municipalities have about a 10 to 15% turnout” in odd-year local elections, and “when it’s moved to even year, it goes up 50 to 60%.” The timing of local elections in Albemarle wouldn’t change under the bill, as they are already held in even-numbered years.
The proposal is the latest effort by the legislature to eliminate the state’s remaining nonpartisan elections and move many off-year local elections to even-numbered years.
The election changes for Moore County and Albemarle were added to an unrelated Senate bill Tuesday that initially addressed only vacancy appointments to the Rowan County commission. Democrats on the House Elections Committee said they had little time to review the new additions to the legislation.
This is not a bad idea, overall. But I disagree with the premise that it clears things up for voters. There’s the aforementioned effort I mentioned by the GOPe to completely remove any meaning or significance to being a registered Republican.
The battle in local government – as at the state and federal levels – is not R vs D but statism vs. freedom. The Marxist political philosophy has public education – from K thru 12 to colleges and universities – in a stranglehold.
The views of potential employers, parents and other taxpayers need to be better respected and recognized in the business of education. In Moore County, our current school board chairman is a registered Republican, but marches in lockstep with the leftist public education establishment.
Over on the municipal side, two of the strongest Republican towns in the county – Southern Pines and Pinehurst – have elected councils dominated by big government statists. (One recent addition to the Pinehurst board proudly announced his love for Joe Biden and hatred of Donald Trump.)
They hide behind the “unaffiliated” label, but they are what they are. Southern Pines refused an opportunity to commemorate the 250th birthday of our nation — suggesting that celebrating American independence might be racist.
Part of the blame for this infiltration and sabotage can be laid toward municipal elections happening in low-turnout odd years. The bill being pushed by Jackson pushes them to even years where turnout is much much larger.
The election changes would take effect in 2028.
This bill also repeals the existing provision granting Moore County schools to run their own police force.
