House Bill 88 passed in the North Carolina General Assembly this past week, establishing primary elections for seats on the Mitchell County Board of Elections and thus transitioning that contest from non-partisan to partisan.
During a regular meeting last month, the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the adoption of a resolution to create primary elections for the Mitchell County Board of Education, as the first step to paving the way for partisan races for seats on the board.
North Carolina law mandates that all board of education elections in the state be non-partisan unless a local bill says otherwise. House Bill 88, now passed, is that bill.
House Bill 88 passed 27-18 in the Senate and 67-48 in the House.
The bill has origins in the NC House, where it originated as a single-issue local bill from another county. Additional counties added to the bill, including Ashe, McDowell and Mitchell, came at the request of the Senate, according to the General Assembly.
Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford) is listed as a secondary sponsor of the bill along with Rep. Brian Briggs (R-Randolph). Rep. John Faircloth (R-Guilford) is listed as the primary sponsor.
Hardister made an effort to catch up the rest of the General Assembly on the tagging on of Mitchell and other counties to the bill.
“I know Mitchell passed a resolution asking to be included and for the election to be converted to partisan,” Hardister said during the General Assembly session this past week.
Since Mitchell was previously subject to the law, board of education candidates couldn’t disclose their party affiliation to voters. That changes with the bill’s passing and Mitchell will join more than a dozen other North Carolina counties to have partisan school board elections including Alleghany, Anson, Duplin, Graham and Swain.