OUR VIEW

Comments from the leaders of the General Assembly at the close of last week indicate the Bladen County Board of Elections, and others across the state, will not be forced by lawmakers to move this fall’s municipal elections.

That’s good news. Nearly 90 percent of the state’s precincts don’t need the census data back in order to conduct this election cycle. Pleas by Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the state Board of Elections, and others that focus on “confusion” are only sowing the seeds by suggesting the unnecessary move.

In Bladen County, there are likely to be between 5,000 and 6,000 registered voters who can cast a vote in Elizabethtown, Bladenboro, White Lake, Clarkton, East Arcadia, Dublin or Tar Heel elections. In the 2019 municipal elections, turnout was 2,086 of the 5,651 registered — 36.9 percent, which was a healthy jump from the 22.8 percent (1,295 of 5,668) two years before that and the 23.5 percent (1,310 of 5,563) in 2015.

This is what politicos call an “off-year” election, because there are no major state or federal offices to be decided; 2022 are mid-terms, when all 170 seats in the state General Assembly, all seats for the U.S. House of Representatives, and about one-third of the U.S. Senate seats are on ballots.

Bell has already asked the General Assembly to delay for everyone in North Carolina not only the 2021 election cycle but also the 2022 primaries.

With Bell’s plan, there would be no elections in North Carolina this year and those in office would remain so until next year’s elections. The primary for March 8 would shift to May 3, and any runoffs would take place July 12.

Six, maybe eight, months of delay would be the impact here. Most of the seats for municipalities in Bladen County are four-year terms. The exceptions are all of those in Tar Heel, which is in the midst of seeking to change to four-year terms, and the Dublin mayor.

For 62 precincts in North Carolina, there’s no question that a delay in data means this year’s cycle is in jeopardy. As for moving next year’s primary, the leaders of the General Assembly say they should have enough time to prepare the new districting maps in order to go forward with a March 8 primary.

Communities can ask the legislature to pass local bills to address their specific elections.

Certainly, the seven Bladen County municipalities should conduct this election cycle at the same time. That takes out any worry about confusion.

Beyond the county border, what others are doing doesn’t really matter. Media coverage, outdoor signage, social media and the most important variable known as word of mouth will suffice in reminding the citizenry it’s election time. There’s no “education” element because this is what is always done every two years.

Should the election be delayed, then yes, there will be an education element. We saw as recently as 2019 a great deal of confusion among voters with a special election primary in May, special general election in September, and the usual munis in November.

Let’s use that most-recent knowledge and keep it simple. Address the needs as warranted.

For Bladen County, the municipal elections should go through this year as scheduled.