Tara Romano: GOP gaming the system in electing commissioners

With only 49 percent of eligible Wake County voters taking part in the 2014 election, it seems presumptuous to suggest the results of the Wake County commissioners election were due to some unfair advantage of representation on the part of the Democrats.

Rather, it sounds like the winning candidates were able to get more of their supporters out to vote than the other candidates, which is generally how low-turnout elections work.

Doesn’t the fact that Republicans held the majority on the commission just prior to this election and that the other two countywide races in 2014 (clerk and sheriff) resulted in Republican victories indicate that there might be more nuance to how Wake County residents are voting than is being offered as the justification of Senate Bill 181?

It would seem that increasing our access and ability to vote while also creating an independent redistricting body would be the best way of ensuring adequate representation of citizen voices, which is what we are striving for.

Senate Bill 181 seems more like people in power trying to game the system.

This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Tara Romano: GOP gaming the system in electing commissioners."