Bill to allow Beaufort election methods change filed | Eastern North Carolina Now

Representative Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) has filed HB3, a local bill for Beaufort County that would allow citizens to change the way their county commissioners are elected through a petition and referendum process, bypassing elected officials.  Citizens of most towns and cities in North Carolina, including Washington, already have this power but most counties do not.

 

A similar bill was passed by the House in the last legislative session, but was still in committee in the Senate when the legislature adjourned.

 

This bill would allow citizens to junk the much hated "limited voting" system that was imposed through a backroom deal between the then all-Democrat county commissioners and a group of plaintiffs led by the late Rev. David Moore to "settle" a voting rights lawsuit. Rev. Moore had proposed a district election plan, but that plan put county commission chairman Frank Bonner, a white Democrat, into a majority black district, and Bonner was frantic to try to save his political career.  The county's liberal Chapel Hill based attorney came to Bonner's rescue with the limited voting plan that they proposed in place of Moore's district plan.  The public was kept in the dark about all of these machinations and was furious when it was leaked that "limited voting"  would be agreed to.  The public furor was so great that the county commission tried to back up and withdraw from the deal on limited voting, but the court ruled that they acted too late to do so.

 

Under HB3, a citizens group could propose an alternate election method, such as district, at-large, or a combination, put it on the ballot through a petition process, and then have the county's citizens vote at the next election on whether to adopt the alternate plan.