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.
