Pless bill forces partisan elections in Madison County; town leaders did not want it

MARSHALL - With the passage of Senate Bill 9, which will require Marshall and Mars Hill municipal election candidates to declare partisanship in the September primary election and in November's general election, the local Board of Elections held an emergency meeting to ensure its ducks were in a row.

According to County Elections Director Jacob Ray, the Madison County Board of Elections held an emergency meeting Aug. 17 in which it reopened the candidate filing period.

Candidates will have until 5 p.m. Aug. 25 to submit their candidacy.

The bill will not take effect in Hot Springs until 2025.

The bill was introduced as House Bill 264 by Rep. Mark Pless, who represents Haywood and Madison counties, on March 2 and was ratified by the Senate Aug. 16.

"I still don't agree with it and don't understand why he (Pless) did that," Norton said in a text message to The News-Record. "I think there's another reason, other than 'citizens want to know where a candidate stands on issues.'"

Hot Springs will conduct its election under the “Nonpartisan Plurality” method provided in General Statute 163-279(a1), according to the Madison County Board of Elections.

Per G.S. 163-302, Hot Springs will not provide absentee voting.

In March, Pless said he did not understand why the then-proposed bill was receiving backlash.

"If you go to the store to purchase something you want to know the price before you do," Pless said in an email to The News Record. "When you drive down the road and see two gas stations with gas for 10 cents less at one you decide who gets your business. When a senior in high school prepares for college they look at all the information they can find to pick the school that fits their personality and values. We decide who runs our towns by either not showing up to vote at all or by blindly selecting names."

At the time, Pless said he wasn't surprised people in Madison County opposed the bill, adding that the first reason he proposed the bill was because many voters in Haywood asked for it.

"I was approached numerous times in the last election cycle because of the school board races in Haywood County being nonpartisan," Pless said. "The folks kept asking who they should vote for because they didn’t know the candidates and the political party wasn’t listed. Most every voter has no idea how to look up their own voter registration so they have no idea how to look up a candidate. The Madison County school boards are already partisan so that wasn’t an issue for them."

But the Hot Springs mayor said she felt the bill did not represent Madison County constituents.

"He's supposed to represent us, but went ahead with this even though the three municipalities didn't want it," Norton said. "I have to wonder how many citizens came to him to request this. How many were from Hot Springs, Marshall and Mars Hill?"

The Mars Hill Town Board vehemently opposed the then-proposed bill, unanimously approving a resolution denouncing the bill in March. The resolution, #2023-003, "Position on proposed legislative changes forcing partisan municipal elections," reads, in part:

"Since 1953, the Charter of the Town of Mars Hill provides that all elections shall be non-partisan; and whereas, the citizens of the Town of Mars Hill purposely chose the non-partisan method of election to ensure that local issues are addressed locally and not influenced by national or statewide political folly."

Marshall mayoral candidate Aaron Haynie said he also disagreed with the bill.

"Personally, I don’t believe it is necessary for the election to be partisan," Haynie said in an email to The News-Record. "The Town of Marshall should be concerned about our residents’ needs regardless of political party. I don’t plan on letting partisan politics enter in my role as Mayor and don’t envision any changes on how the Town operates from day to day."

While Mars Hill Mayor John Chandler has two years remaining on his term and thus will not be up for election this year, Chandler spoke out against the bill earlier this year.

"House Bill 264 will force, and I'm going to put that in there, force, towns to go partisan with their elections, which we are totally opposed to," Chandler said. "It works great like it is."

According to information received from Mars Hill Town Manager Nathan Bennett, 46% of Mars Hill voters are unaffiliated, while 31% are registered as Democrats, compared to 22% registered as Republican.

"These unaffiliated voters would be unfairly discriminated against, having their voice silenced, should they seek to be a candidate for municipal office under the partisan election method," the resolution continues.

Mars Hill Town Manager Nathan Bennett, who drafted the resolution, said Aug. 18 the town's position has not changed.

More: Mars Hill, Hot Springs mayors speak out against bill that would force partisan elections

As of Aug. 23, 41% of the county's registered voters, (6,937 out of 16,770) were unaffiliated, according to the state Board of Elections.

Norton said for this reason she also felt Senate Bill 9 does not accurately represent the county's voting population, as an unaffiliated candidate will now have to gather petitions from voters to be included on official ballots.

Norton added the bill could also lead to increased expenditures.

"The towns will now to pay for a primary AND an election, and anyone who is registered unaffiliated will have to get a petition signed by a percentage of the voters in order to run for office," she said. "This bill is NOT in the best interest of Hot Springs."

Next week, The News-Record & Sentinel will have candidate profiles of Hot Springs, Marshall and Mars Hill candidates. The candidates will be interviewed about their backgrounds and their platforms, as well as the issues that matter most to them.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Bill requiring partisan elections ratified in Madison, Haywood