A bill that could eliminate nonpartisan elections in Cabarrus County passed the House on Wednesday.
If House Bill 271 becomes law, voters this fall will decide whether they want to continue having nonpartisan elections in Concord, Harrisburg, Midland and Mount Pleasant.
"It puts it to the voters," said Rep. Brian Echevarria, R-Cabarrus, and the bill's primary sponsor.
The bill moved rapidly through committees Tuesday and passed Wednesday by a 66-42 vote. All Republicans and three Democrats voted for the bill.
Rep. Cynthia Ball, D-Wake, opposed the bill.
"When you change elections in local races like this to partisan, it disenfranchises — somewhat — the unaffiliated voter," Ball said.
That's because unaffiliated candidates must have the signatures of 1.5% of registered voters living in their community to run. Those registered with a political party can simply run.
Unaffiliated voters outnumber Republicans and Democrats in Cabarrus County, making up 38% of registered voters.
Shelby's mayor tried to stop the legislation from advancing in the House. He said at least 96% of North Carolina's municipalities have nonpartisan local races.
"Regardless of party affiliation, our residents trust us to work together to address the issues affecting their daily lives," Mayor Bill Dusch wrote to the Committee on Election Law in April, according to a letter shared with NC Newsroom.
If the bill passes the Senate, referendums would be placed on the ballot in November, asking Cabarrus County residents if they want to make the switch. (Kannapolis and Huntersville are spread across multiple counties and exempt from the legislation.)
Earlier this session, the House passed a bill that would make school board elections in Jackson County partisan.
Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper said when the General Assembly makes local elections nonpartisan, it tends to benefit Republican representation because there are more Republican than Democratic counties.
"This bill is a little different, however, because it would not make the change directly, but rather would simply place it on the ballot for the voters to decide," Cooper said in an email. "Citizens have tended to prefer non-partisan elections in the past, so this likely creates a higher bar for passage."
Changing how Cabarrus County appoints commissioners
The law also proposes changing how Cabarrus County handles appointments to vacant Board of Commissioners posts amid a dispute that landed the county in court.
Superior Court Judge Steve R. Warren recently blocked nominee Lamarie Austin-Stripling from being sworn into a county commission seat vacated by Chris Measmer. Measmer left to take a post in the state Senate on April 15.
In a written ruling Monday, Warren said the board voted several days before Measmer actually resigned, which was against the law. Warren awarded nearly $13,000 in legal fees to the group that sued Cabarrus County and the board.
But by the time the lawsuit resolved, more than 20 days had passed, which (in Cabarrus County) means the appointment was instead in the hands of the Clerk of Superior Court. On Tuesday, the clerk chose Jeff Jones, an attorney.
House Bill 271 would eliminate the 20-day deadline, and give the outgoing commissioner's political party more authority over the replacement.
