There’s an effort in the North Carolina General Assembly to change the way Gastonia’s city council seats are elected. Representative Donnie Loftis said the council’s Republicans asked for the change, but local officials say that’s not true.
Gastonia’s city council has members from six wards who are elected citywide. A bill that was rewritten and approved in the state House last week would make it so residents would only vote for the council member from their ward.
Loftis (R-Gaston) gave this reasoning for the bill on the House floor:
“Because the current board is split Democrat-Republican, the Republican members support that, the county commissioners support that, and many citizens in the community support that.”
When word got back to city council member Jennifer Stepp, she was shocked.
“No, it is not true!” said Stepp.
She’s one of two Republicans on council and her Republican colleague also opposes such a change. Stepp says it could make local matters more divisive.
“It increases the chance of vote-trading — you vote for this for my ward and I’ll vote for this for yours — while we work right now cohesively for the whole city,” said Stepp.
Stepp and her colleagues say voting by ward makes no sense in a small city like Gastonia, where about 14,000 people live in each ward. They say it would likely decrease turnout.
“It’s going to dilute the interest to vote,” said Mayor Walker Reid, who’s a Democrat. In many municipal election years, the ballot would consist of only one city council ward race. "I think it's going to cut the numbers drastically, and interest in voting."
Gastonia's city council this week unanimously approved a resolution opposing the change.
"We're trying our best to discourage it, and hopefully they'll listen to us," Reid said. "We were shocked this was even mentioned."
Loftis did not respond to requests for comment. In the last municipal election, Republicans in Wards 1 and 2 ran in nonpartisan races for council. Stepp says they won their wards, but not citywide votes. She believes that prompted the legislative push to change the way the council’s seats are elected.
“We’ve got one individual who is just about to turn the whole elections process in the city of Gastonia upside down single-handedly,” said Mayor Pro-Tem David Kirlin, who’s unaffiliated.
The bill, which includes other local changes, will return to the state Senate for final approval.
