Right sentiment, wrong time for district elections
I was recently shared a recording of an interview on The Bryan Hanks Show (the weekday morning broadcast on 960AM hosted by former Free Press editor Bryan Hanks) where former Kinston City Council candidate Michael Martin attempted to make a case for changing the way Kinston’s local elections are held.
Currently, Kinston’s mayor and city council are elected on staggered four-year terms, on a nonpartisan and at-large basis. This means that, unlike when you vote for President or other federal or state officials, you don’t see “Republican” or “Democrat” beside the names of city council candidates, and that any resident of the city limits can vote for the candidates—regardless of what precinct or neighborhood they live in. This method of voting is not unpopular for communities across North Carolina like ours. Recently, individuals like Michael and others have been pushing a narrative that the City of Kinston should switch to district elections—mostly because they believe Kinston’s changing demographics have made it more challenging for white candidates in our community to get elected.
With at-large elections, as we currently have, every member of our city council represents this entire city, and we’re accountable to all of its residents. When I ran for city council in 2021, that was one of the most fulfilling parts of my campaign experience—the opportunity to walk through and talk with residents in every neighborhood of this city, to make sure that I heard their concerns and took their input into consideration. If we were to switch to district elections, that would pose a risk of a fragmented city council where its members may focus primarily on their respective districts, potentially neglecting the broader interests of the city as a whole. If I can be frank here, focusing primarily on certain neighborhoods and certain demographics of people has, unfortunately, been the reason that some candidates in recent years have struggled to win seats on the Kinston City Council.
Another one of the challenges with our local elections, as they stand today, is that there is a limited candidate pool. If we were to switch to district elections, with our city’s declining population and strained community engagement, I could see the candidate pool becoming even weaker. Lenoir County, which has district elections for the county’s Board of Commissioners and Board of Education, has seen several elections now where candidates win the November election because they were unopposed in their district.
Running for office is one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done, but it has also been one of my most expensive and time consuming endeavors. However, the demands and constraints of this undertaking have caused us to have smaller and smaller candidate pools in our elections. In Kinston’s 2019 municipal election, with three city council seats up for grabs, we only had four candidates file for the position. One of the candidates, the sole white candidate in that election, had the background and experience you’d expect to find in a city councilmember—but I believe they fell short when it came to reaching across the aisle and building the trust and strong relationships needed to win a seat on Kinston’s city council. In fact, their supporters boldly advocated for residents to choose only that candidate on the ballots, and not vote for any of the other three Black candidates in order to give their choice a better chance. When there’s three seats on the ballot and you’re advocating to only vote for the single white candidate in the election, how well do you think that’ll go over in a city that is 67% Black?
If we were to switch our elections from being at-large to having a district system in place, it would likely be an expensive undertaking for our community. For starters, this would call for a change to the city’s charter through a referendum or ballot measure. Then, the city would have to identify an impartial process to draw the boundaries for these new districts — which would likely involve creating a committee or commission tasked with doing so, and hiring professionals to analyze the demographic data to ensure the districts are fair. The administrative burden of maintaining separate districts, conducting district-specific elections, and addressing district-specific concerns could lead to increased complexity and costs for the City of Kinston, our elected officials, and our city employees.
I believe that now is past the time for us to identify ways to increase citizen engagement in local government and get more residents involved in the electoral process—it’s why I’ve worked so hard on and off the council to make government more accessible and transparent for all people. Yet, I don’t believe that moving to district elections is the appropriate direction for Kinston at this time based on our current capacity, population, and budget restraints. Instead, we should focus on measures that maintain the integrity of our current electoral system, while ensuring enhanced representation, diverse candidate options, and meaningful opportunities for community input.
There will be three city council seats on our ballot this November, and the filing period for those seats will be open from noon on Friday, July 7, 2023 through noon on Friday, July 21, 2023. If you are interested or know someone who should run for office, I encourage you to reach out to the Lenoir County Board of Elections to learn more about the filing process. There’s a need for ready and willing leaders to put forth their time, talents, and passion to serve our community—ALL of our community—and I hope we will see those leaders step forward in this year’s election. We can, and will, create a city where all of our residents feel empowered and engaged in the decisions that shape Kinston’s future.
Chris J. Suggs was elected to the Kinston City Council in November 2021 and is currently the youngest elected official in North Carolina. The Kinston City Council hosts its Regular Meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:30PM and 7:00PM, respectively.