New law to change Wake County commissioner elections. What it means for voters.
A bill changing how the Wake County Board of Commissioners is elected has cleared its final hurdle and become law.
Wake County voters will no longer cast ballots for all seven members of the Board of Commissioners.
Instead, voters in each district will decide only on the candidates running to represent the district they live in.
Until now, only the candidates had to live within the district, with voters across the county able to weigh in on every race.
In 2026, the board will expand by two members who will be elected at-large.
Compromise with bill’s GOP sponsor
The new law is a compromise between bill sponsor, Rep. Erin Paré, the sole Republican in Wake County’s legislative delegation, and the Wake County commissioners, who are all Democrats.
“This change is a long time coming and rights a major wrong that has gone on too long in Wake,” Paré said Tuesday afternoon. “Now Wake residents from every part of the county will have fair representation on the board. Very proud of this bill.”
Unlike the original draft of the bill, the revised language keeps the election of the Wake County Board of Commissioners partisan.
“Wake County is now larger than eight states with a population of nearly 1.2 million people,” Paré said on the House floor in early March.
“Fifty-five percent of the electorate resides in Raleigh and Cary,” she explained. “The purpose of these changes is to strengthen representation on the board for the more suburban and rural communities around the county.”
“This is good for the people of Wake, and it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
There was no discussion of the bill on the Senate floor.
House Bill 99 is a local bill, meaning it doesn’t need to be signed by the governor.
This story was originally published June 6, 2023 at 6:22 PM.
