SerpApi.Org
North Carolina lawmakers are increasingly using local bills to reshape municipal elections, with Kannapolis becoming the latest city to trade nonpartisan contests for partisan ones.
A new bill approved by the General Assembly this month converts Kannapolis, Albermarle, and numerous municipalities in Moore County from nonpartisan, odd-year elections to partisan contests held during even-numbered election years. The changes build on similar legislation lawmakers approved last year for Monroe and several other local governments, extending what political experts describe as a growing pattern of the legislature altering local elections one municipality at a time.
Supporters argue party labels provide voters with more information and improve transparency. Critics counter the changes inject unnecessary partisanship into local government while giving the Republican-controlled legislature greater influence over elections that have traditionally focused on local issues rather than party politics.
“It definitely seems to be occurring frequently now,” said Eric Heberlig, a political science professor at UNC Charlotte “The dominant party in the state legislature thinks that they could win more local elections if voters knew the party identification of the candidates.”
Senate Bill 876, which became law earlier this month, cancelled Kannapolis’ scheduled 2027 municipal election and extended current elected officials’ terms by one year before elections resume in 2028. And the legislation reaches well beyond Cabarrus County.
In addition to Kannapolis, the bill converts Albemarle in Stanly County, and Aberdeen, Cameron, Carthage, Pinebluff, Robbins, Southern Pines, Taylortown, Vass, Foxfire Village and Pinehurst in Moore County to partisan elections. Most of those municipalities will also shift from odd-year elections to even-year contests beginning in 2028.
The measure follows a series of similar bills in recent years.
Last summer, lawmakers approved legislation making Monroe’s municipal elections partisan while moving them to even-numbered years. Republicans also converted Cabarrus County school board elections to partisan contests before the 2024 election, when two Democratic incumbents lost their seats and Republicans won every race. The changes followed earlier Republican-backed efforts to make school board and judicial elections more partisan.
While some of North Carolina’s largest cities, including Charlotte, have long held partisan municipal elections, most municipalities across the state remain nonpartisan.
Heberlig said the growing number of local election bills reflects more than administrative convenience.
Voters often rely on party labels as a shortcut rather than researching individual candidates, he said, making partisan ballots potentially advantageous in areas where one party consistently performs well.
The shift to even-year elections could also be significant.
Municipal elections held during presidential or congressional election years draw dramatically larger electorates than traditional odd-year contests, when turnout tends to be dominated by voters most engaged in local government. Because national races drive turnout, local contests increasingly become influenced by broader partisan dynamics rather than neighborhood issues, Heberlig said.
“If you think most voters ... are going to vote for Republicans in national races, then you improve your probability of local candidates winning if they’re running at the same time as national Republican candidates,” he said.
Cabarrus County Republican Party Chair Jim Quick said the legislation will improve elections rather than politicize them.
Quick said moving Kannapolis elections to even-numbered years will save the city about $37,000 in election costs while giving voters more information when they head to the polls. He said voters should research candidates regardless of party affiliation, but argued many people arrive at the polls knowing little about candidates in low-profile municipal races.
“A party indicator doesn’t solve the apathy problem, but it is a useful general indicator of a candidate’s worldview, fiscal philosophy, and approach to public policy,” Quick said.
Cabarrus County Democratic Party Chair Rosa Culver-Sims said the changes could make it more difficult for unaffiliated candidates to seek office by forcing them to either join a political party or gather enough petition signatures to qualify for the ballot. She argued that voters also lose out when otherwise qualified candidates decide not to run.
“You’re suppressing their choice in two ways,” Culver-Sims said. “We’re keeping individuals that are unaffiliated that could be qualified, that could bring a fresh voice, fresh perspective to our politics.”
Culver-Sims said requiring candidates to run under party labels could leave fewer moderate or independent voices in local government, making compromise more difficult on issues that have traditionally been less partisan.
“You’re going to have people that are either Democrats or Republicans, but no one in the middle,” she said.
North Carolina’s legislature has increasingly exercised its authority over local election laws in recent years, Heberlig said, using local bills to change municipal election methods, school board elections and, in some cases, how vacancies are filled.
Heberlig said the trend is unlikely to end with Kannapolis.
“If people in office can get away with changing the rules to benefit themselves, and they know that voters won’t hold them accountable for doing it, they have a lot of incentive to continue to do so,” he said.
