Johnston County Commissioners are one step closer towards redrawing their election districts. It has been nearly 30 years since the district lines last changed. Commissioners must live in one of seven election districts to run for that particular seat, but they are voted on at-large.
Recently, NC Senator Benton Sawrey (R-Johnston County) was instrumental in getting a local bill approved in the General Assembly allowing the district lines to be officially changed.
“I’m glad to see this bill pass both chambers quickly,” Senator Sawrey told The Johnston County Report. “A lot has changed in our county over the past thirty-years and the ball is now with the Board of Commissioners to determine how to proceed.”
Originally, Senate Bill 379 applied only to Moore County but was amended to apply to other residency-based boards, including Johnston County, after it was introduced.
In April 2023, Commissioners adopted a resolution in support of Senate Bill 379. At the same meeting, Commissioner Fred Smith spoke about how the population numbers have changed over the years.
For example, Commission District 3 which covers southeastern and eastern Johnston County represents about 10,700 registered voters in 2023 compared to 5,726 in 1990. District 1, which covers northern Johnston County, currently represented 33,025 registered voters, compared to 3,467 in 1990.
District 5, which covers the rapidly growing Cleveland area, now represents 31,813 voters in 2023, compared to just 6,686 in 1990.
Commissioners did not have the local authority to change the residency boundaries without approval from state legislators.
The legislation requires the county board re-define the districts to make them more equal. No changes in boundaries may affect the unexpired term of a sitting commissioner. The changes must be completed 150 days before the primary.
In order for the new districts to be in place for the 2024 election cycle, the changes must be completed by October 2023.
Good! But why is there a state law needed for the county to run its own business? Too much state involvement
As you may have read from the article: “The legislation requires the county board re-define the districts to make them more equal.”
The state will not be involved in redrawing Johnston County district lines.
I understand the article just fine! I still don’t understand why a STATE law needed to be changed to ALLOW the county commissioners to redraw the lines in their own county. This is state involvement that never needed to be there! It should be up to the county and the county alone to determine if they need to redraw lines for their commissioners based on population. We need to bring more things back to local and out of the hands of state and federal officials.
you are correct and I totally agree!
Here we go redrawing districts. They can’t keep their hands off of it
Can you say gerrymandering?
About time! State law requires that districts be “proportional in size.” JoCo #1 is nearly 3 times larger than #2. This should have been done YEARS ago! #VoteOutIncumbents
Allowing elected officials redraw the districts they are elected to is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house, we all know how that would turn out. Redrawing districts should be accomplished by an independent body not the people who will be elected to those districts. Gerrymandering is alive and well in NC and JoCo.
@FDT: No where in the NC constitution does it require that districts be “fair.” Gerrymandering is perfectly legal in NC and JoCo. If you want districts drawn by independent commissions, you should move to SOCIALIST Europe. Here in the USA the winners (get to make the rules).
@TTT I never said anything about the constitution, I said letting the the commissioners draw the districts that they are elected to is like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum. A stupid idea. If you want to live under a Dictatorship move to Russia.
@FDT: You need to re-read the NC constitution. The controlling party of the legislature has the power to draw districts. Sounds like you don’t like living under our constitution.
@TTT The county commissioners are not part of the state legislators.
@FDT: Again, read the legislation. The county commissioners are enabled to propose the districts, and final approval is with the sate legislature (the party in power). Again, if you don’t like the laws, go somewhere else.
At the same time I wish they would change the way we vote for commissioners. We should only vote for the commissioner in our district and an at large member.