RALEIGH — There’s never an off year for elections. At least not in the state legislature. This session, dozens of election-related bills have been filed, but a few have sped to the front of the pack: local measures making school board races partisan and those shifting municipal contests from odd to even years, when state and presidential elections take place.
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Meanwhile, other legislation — including bills making Election Day a state holiday and changing the way voter registration drives work — has stalled.
In order for these bills to make it across the finish line, they’ll need a boost to meet the May 8 crossover deadline — the day legislation has to be approved by at least one chamber to move forward.
Making school boards partisan
When the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on a resolution asking the General Assembly to make school board elections partisan, there was no warning. The proposed change wasn’t even on the agenda.
Rather, during its February meeting, Commissioner John Smith moved to amend another resolution, which was on the agenda, with the proposal to add party affiliations next to the names of school board candidates.
Without discussion or public input, Smith and his fellow commissioners voted to approve the amended resolution.
A week later, the Jackson County Board of Education voted unanimously to approve an opposing resolution declaring its intent to keep school board elections nonpartisan.
Board of Education Chairwoman Gayle Woody felt blindsided.
“It was obvious that they had had discussions behind closed doors because there was unanimous agreement with no comment, reason given or discussion,” she said.
Although Woody shared her concerns with the county’s Republican state House Rep. Mike Clampitt, he prioritized the commissioners’ wishes. In early March, Clampitt filed a bill to make Jackson County’s school board elections partisan. Since then, that bill has passed the House along party lines and is awaiting a second round of review in the state Senate.
Woody hopes that never happens. She sees a potential ally in Jackson County state Sen. Kevin Corbin, whose opposition could kill the bill. Thus far, Corbin has been “very responsive” to the education board’s concerns, she said, but votes are never certain until they’re tallied in the state legislature.
Woody doesn’t want the school board to become another “political football” in her community.
“I’m obviously aware that political things come up in every aspect of community life, but that should not be the driving force behind decisions made by school boards,” she said. “It should be what’s best for our students.”
A partisan pattern
Jackson County is not the only battleground where the fight over elections is being waged. According to an EdNC analysis, the number of partisan school districts in North Carolina has quintupled since 2013 when only 10 districts held such elections.
In 2024, 52 of the state’s 115 school districts held partisan elections. Before those elections, 31 of those boards had Republican majorities. Afterward, it was 38.
“In a state like North Carolina, where we have roughly the same number of Democrats and Republicans, but we have more Republican counties than Democratic counties, moving to partisan ballots is likely to help the Republican Party,” said Chris Cooper, a Western Carolina University political science professor.
He added that it also helps build Republican talent which can be used to fill out candidate slates for higher levels of political office later.
Bills to make school board elections partisan in Gaston, Columbus and Pitt counties, as well as the city of Asheboro, are also on the table this legislative session. Each have made it past the House and await Senate action.
During a committee meeting discussing one of these bills, state Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, explained that voters want more information on the ballot. Right now, they just have a list of names, he said.
Even when parties aren’t listed on the ballot, partisanship comes into play because local Democratic and Republican parties tend to make endorsements in nonpartisan races, Overcash added.
“This is a much more fair way to conduct elections because if you have multiple people from the same party running, you have an open public election process rather than an internal party process where they’re identifying who should go on what slate card,” he said.
While the Jackson County Board of Commissioners has five Republicans, the current school board has three Democratic members and two unaffiliated members. To Woody, it’s proof that voters chose individuals, not a party, in a county that went for President Donald Trump by nine percentage points the past two election cycles.
Odd or even?
During China Grove’s last mayoral election, 377 people voted out of a population of about 4,500 in the Rowan County town.
In the Pitt County village of Simpson, just shy of 100 voted.
And in Vance County’s Kittrell, a measly 26 showed up at the polls for the mayor’s race.
What do these races across North Carolina have in common? They all took place in 2023, an off year for state and federal elections when voter turnout is typically much lower.
That’s why these small burgs, as well as Madison, Faith and all of Pamlico County’s townships, want to change that. Each asked their state representative to file a bill changing their elections from odd to even years.
For China Grove Mayor Rodney Phillips, there was an additional motivation: to save money.
The same holds true in Kittrell, where the town clerk said the 2023 election cost $2,500 even though only a few dozen showed.
Also, when fewer people vote, it’s easier for special interest groups to sway a result, Cooper said. But off-year elections have different patterns than on-year elections in that the issues may be more nationalized when the mayor’s race is on the same ticket as the presidential and congressional contests.
But for many, that’s worth the risk.
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