‘We were not consulted’: NC bill would change how Wake County commissioners get elected
A local bill filed in the N.C. General Assembly would change the Wake County Board of Commissioners elections.
State Rep. Erin Paré, the sole Republican in Wake County’s legislative delegation, filed a local bill Monday to make the Wake County commissioners elections nonpartisan. It would also require the commissioners to be elected by district instead of by the county at large.
It’s the latest attempt by the Republican-controlled General Assembly to change the Wake County elections since Democrats took full control of the seven-person county board in 2014.
“It’s very unlikely that the GOP will take control of the Wake County Board of Commissioners,” Paré said when The News & Observer asked if the bill was aimed at getting Republicans elected. “This is not about electing a certain person from a certain political party.
“This is about the people of a district having the confidence in the system,” she said. “That this is not a taxation without representation situation. That they have someone that they can go to. That (someone) is representing them and their interests.”
The members of the Wake County Board of Commissioners are elected to four-year, staggered terms in partisan races that include a primary. There are seven county commissioner districts and each commissioner must live in the district they represent. But the entire county votes for each district candidate.
A majority of the Wake County Board of Commissioners were in Washington, D.C., on Monday for the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference.
“We were surprised to receive word of the proposed legislation this afternoon, as we were not consulted about it prior to filing,” said Wake County Commissioner Shinica Thomas. “The commissioners have not yet had time to fully consider its implications due to our full schedules. In the coming days, we will analyze the bill and communicate with our representatives.
A local bill does not go to the governor and is not subject to a veto if the bill affects fewer than 15 counties.
County commissioner elections in the second and third most populous counties, Mecklenburg and Guilford, are elected through a combination of at-large and district seats.
Nonpartisan election
Paré wasn’t aware of another North Carolina county commission that has nonpartisan elections and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners doesn’t list any counties with nonpartisan commissioner races.
The bill would make the county’s election method a nonpartisan plurality, meaning there would be no run-off.
“There’s a couple of reasons for the non partisan,” Paré said. “Number one, the majority of voters in Wake County are unaffiliated. Number two, the other county board, the board of education, is elected on a nonpartisan format. And number three, making these (elections) nonpartisan makes complete sense to take out the partisan from this change to single member districts”
She shared a draft bill with similar changes with the Wake County state delegation and the Wake County commissioners last year, she said. She was “disappointed” that the commissioners didn’t consider making the changes themselves.
“This has nothing to do with the quality of work or representation of our current members of the board,” she said. “We’re doing this because we would like the people in each district, or communities of interest, around the county to have the assurance that there is someone that is accountable to them. And not the rest of the entire county of 1.2 million people.”
‘Brutal Gerrymander’
In 2015, the General Assembly redrew the county’s districts, including two at-large districts. Democrats argued the districts were gerrymandered in an attempt to ensure GOP majorities on the local board.
A lawsuit was filed and the districts were ruled unconstitutional. The Consent Order from that lawsuit required all the commissioners to have two-year terms and be elected at the same time.
In late 2021, the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted on new district boundaries and for the commissioners to be elected on four-year, staggered terms. The Wake County Republican Party held a press conference in 2022 calling for the commissioners to move to true districts.
In a speech, former local GOP Chairman Darren Eustance called the Wake County Board of Commissioners the “most effective and brutal Gerrymander.”
“Furthermore, not only is Wake County larger than eight states, but it is the only large county in North Carolina to elect all commissioners countywide,” he said. “This is wrong, has always been wrong, and will continue to be wrong.”
N.C. Rep. Maria Cervania, who recently served on the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said it’s better to vote for all seven candidates instead of just one.
“I think that when when voters have the opportunity to vote for everyone, that the questions of gerrymandering or any structure in an election or campaign process actually gets mitigated or removed,” she said.
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 7:07 PM.
