There was a packed room for a four-hour Jacksonville City Council meeting debating a controversial proposal to overhaul local elections. Public comments heated up over House Bill 1038, which would eliminate Jacksonville's voting ward system and convert all council seats to at-large positions.
Cynthia Wigfall Simon said the ward system is intentional, and was designed with purpose. “The adoptions of at-large systems typically flow from efforts to dilute black voters’ power in southern cities after the Civil War and the municipal reform movement that sought to promote a citywide perspective in governance.”
Rebecca Getty Cooper told the council that the move could set a dangerous precedent, and not just for voters in Jacksonville. “We already have two at-large seats representing Jacksonville as a whole,” she said.” If you remove the ward system here, you send a message across our entire county. If this can happen in Jacksonville, it can happen anywhere. They can remove the aldermen in Richlands, the commissioners in Swansboro, the local advocates in every small town.”
Cooper was emotional as she continued to speak out against the bill. “Jacksonville. One city, our city, my city. Council Member Smith said it perfectly. ‘One city does not mean one voice. One city means every neighborhood has a voice at the table.’”
Councilwoman Mickey Smith urged state lawmakers to preserve the wards to ensure community equity, as the bill remains temporarily on hold in the state legislature.
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Vickie Adkinson said the ward system exists to ensure that every area of the city has a voice and a councilmember accountable to that area. “Moving to at large elections shifts the dynamics and weakens neighborhood level representation,” she said, and added, “Decisions about how a city is represented should be by the people who live there.”
Onslow County Republican Party Chair Laura Deptola countered that the current system creates an unfair advantage, noting that some base-heavy wards require only 100 votes to win.
