JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Jacksonville council members are pushing back against House Bill 1038, which would change how the city council is voted upon.<\/p>\n
The bill would replace Jacksonville\u2019s current ward system with an at-large voting system. <\/p>\n
Currently, the city is divided into four wards, and voters in each ward elect their own representative. There are also two at-large seats. <\/p>\n
Under the proposed at-large system, all registered voters in Jacksonville would vote for every city council seat.<\/p>\n
Opponents say the change could dilute Black representation on the city council, where three of the four ward council members are Black.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the decision should not be made by those outside of Jacksonville, but Jacksonville residents should be able to make that decision,\u201d said Mickey Smith, Ward 2 city council representative. \u201cThey voted us in these seats, and how they vote and when they vote should be determined by the city, not individuals outside the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill was co-sponsored by Republican representatives Wyatt Gable and Phil Shepard, both of whom represent Onslow County but not Jacksonville. <\/p>\n
Gable says the bill is meant to address concerns of uneven voter representation between the districts, where some have 1,200 voters and others around 200.<\/p>\n
Ward 1 representative Jerome Willingham said the council did not request the change.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil did not ask for this, and I think local bills that result in the way that they do, where council doesn\u2019t ask for it or is something council doesn\u2019t want, is just colonization,\u201d Willingham said.<\/p>\n
Smith said the proposal appears to target wards 1 and 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s those who have been, historically, since the ward system was in place, African Americans,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Willingham said all city council members had a chance at the meeting to speak up in favor of or against the bill, but not everyone did. Those who did speak are against it.<\/p>\n
Willingham is strongly against the at-large system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I don\u2019t understand the legality of the legislature forcing a system on us which would be the at-large system that was determined discriminatory in 1990,\u201d Willingham said.<\/p>\n
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