By John Worden, Guest Columnist
Our nation’s Founding Fathers were smart when they set up our republic. It is set up in a way where we select a representative based on a geographic area, that rep then represents their constituents based on how they voted.
It works on both the state and federal level. It should be done at the county level as well to get better representation and end some voting confusion.
We have five different commissioner districts, yet anyone from any district gets to vote for all the district representatives. It is confusing at the least and doesn’t provide proper representation to the citizens of this county.
The proof is in the past polls. We have had commissioners who can’t win their own district, but still win their seat because voters from the other districts picked them. That isn’t proper representation. That commissioner isn’t representing their own district, they are representing a different geographic part of the county.
That isn’t very constitutional. Remember that ol’ “No taxation without representation” thing?
The good news is that there is a solution: In-district-only voting. I inquired about it with the Cherokee County Board of Elections during the primary and soon received an email with not one, but three different ways to establish in-district voting. A special thanks to both the elections board and county attorney Darryl Brown for responding in a timely manner.
The first way would be the most cost-effective and civil way. The commissioners can adopt it by vote. Once they pass it, it will be put on the ballot in November as a referendum where the citizens of the county vote on it. If passed, it would be implemented for the next election cycle (2026) and become the new voting law of the land.
If the commissioners are truly the voice of the people they claim to be, they should happily and unanimously pass it and have it as a referendum for us to vote on this November, but seeing as at least one can’t get elected by their own district I have my doubts.
Which brings us to the other two options.
The second way in-district voting can be established is by the N.C. General Assembly passing a local law. Our house and senate members would have to introduce a bill to establish in-district voting in Cherokee County. It would then have to be passed by the House and Senate to become law. That has been done many times in the past, so it isn’t impossible.
And considering the egg on the faces of state Sen. Kevin Corbin and Rep. Karl Gillespie after county commissioners foolishly sent back $50 million in new school grant money, that may be easier to do than under normal circumstances.
The third way to accomplish in-district voting in Cherokee County is through a court order. The citizens would have to sue the county. The lawsuit simply has to prove that the current system is an infringement of the voter’s rights, thus violating the U.S. and/or N.C. Constitutions, state law or the federal Voting Rights Act. The evidence is there; commissioners have won past elections without winning their own district – repeatedly.
Jones County used this route in 2017 to change their system. While this would probably be the most costly way to get in-district voting established, it may be the most efficient way.
I have spoken with one commissioner who claims he would support it as a referendum, but says at least three others wouldn’t. If we start a petition we may be able to sway them. If not, does anyone know a good lawyer who would take up the cause?
The writer is a resident of Murphy.