How an elections bill would divide the Wake County Board of Commissioners | Opinion

State Rep. Erin Paré, Wake County’s lone Republican state lawmaker, wants to break what she considers a Democratic stranglehold on her deep blue county.

Paré has introduced a local bill that would change how Wake County commissioners are elected. It calls for the seven members of the Board of Commissioners to be elected by gaining a plurality of votes within a district in a nonpartisan election. Currently, commissioners must live within a district, but are elected county-wide in partisan elections. Most counties elect their commissioners by a county-wide vote.

Paré says the change would make commissioners more responsive to their districts and would encourage unaffiliated voters to seek a county commissioner seat. As it is, she says, county elections are dominated by voters from Raleigh and Cary and less populated areas don’t get enough attention from commissioners focused on winning county-wide elections.

The proposal has a facile appeal as a move to empower localities. But its actual effect would be to split a board that takes a view of what’s best for the county overall into seven commissioners concerned with what serves their corner of the county.

In addition, changing from partisan elections to nonpartisan elections decided by a plurality raises the possibility that multiple candidates could crowd into district races with the winner receiving well under 50 percent of the vote.

Beyond those theoretical problems is the issue of what’s actually happening with the board. True, its members are all Democrats elected countywide, but they also all won a majority of the votes in their districts. And, thanks to the district residency requirement, they live in areas across the county.

Finally, there is the matter of not fixing what’s not broken. The current and recent boards have been remarkably collegial, responsive and effective. The board has held the line on taxes while spreading new schools, parks, services and economic development fairly across the county. The areas experiencing the most rapid growth are in the western and southern parts of the county, including Paré’s 37th District.

Democrats who’ve watched Republican state lawmakers pass measures to suppress minority votes, lock themselves into power with extreme gerrymandering and reintroduce partisanship into judicial elections are right to suspect that Paré’s push for nonpartisan elections has the partisan intent of unseating Democrats.

Paré’s bill also violates what used to be a principle for Republican state lawmakers: Don’t intrude on local control.

Democratic objections and Republican tradition won’t stop this change. It passed the House Local Government Committee this week in a 7-6 party-line vote. Republicans limited public comment to one minute per speaker – then ended the hearing before everyone got to speak. As a local bill, it needs only to pass the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Gov. Roy Cooper cannot veto it.

Paré’s proposed change would not reverse the county’s strong lean toward Democrats, but it would introduce division and dysfunction that would undermine what has been an impressive run of good government.

If Republicans want to win back control of the board, they should put up strong candidates and run on issues that resonate with county voters. Republicans have controlled the board before and they can again. Taking a shortcut to county power through the state legislature is the wrong way to go.

Republicans who still care about the autonomy and effectiveness of the government closest to the people ought to tell Paré they appreciate her assertiveness on their party’s behalf, but this bill is not needed.

Clarification: An earlier version of this editorial was unclear about how most counties elect county commissioners. Most use a county-wide vote, but a minority combine that with a district residency requirement.

This story was originally published February 24, 2023 at 5:30 AM.