New bill shackles black voters into 2 wards
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
If N.C. House Repre
sentatives Donny Lambeth
and Debra Conrad have
their way, some drastic
changes could be on the
horizon for the Winston-
Salem City Council and
the citizens of the Twin
City.
Last week Lambeth
and Conrad filed a bill
that would move three of
the eight council seats to
at-large districts, give the
mayor the right to vote in
city council matters, and
change the way the council
fills vacancies.
In a press release is
sued on Friday, March 29,
the state lawmakers say
House Bill 519 will “bring
city elections more in line
with other municipalities
across the state.”
Currently the Winston-
Salem City Council op
erates with eight council
members who are elected
by ward and only the may
or is elected at large. In
the larger cities across the
state, including Charlotte,
Raleigh, Greensboro and
Durham, the mayor and at
least two council members
are elected at large.
The press release from
Lambeth’s office reads,
“It is fairly typical in the
larger North Carolina mu
nicipalities for City Coun
cil elections to be a com
bination of at-large seats
As news of the pro
posed bill began to make
headlines, council member
Besse took to Facebook to
voice his frustration with
House Bill 519 and anoth
er bill that would change
the terms for Winston-
Salem/Forsyth County
School Board.
Besse, who ran against
Lambeth in the 2018 Gen
eral Election for his seat
on the House of Repre
sentatives, said instead of
focusing on the real issues,
Lambeth and Conrad are
“playing political games.”
He wrote, “... Instead
of working to protect the
lives of over 10,000 For
syth County citizens who
lack health care, these
legislators have chosen to
spend their time playing
partisan political games
with two local elected
boards.” Besse continued,
“They may offer excuses
for why they have chosen
to launch these partisan at
tacks now, but there is no
conceivable justification
for doing so without public
debate or consultation. In
the case ofWinston-Salem,
they have even included in
their bill a pre-drawn ger
rymandered map of the
new council districts.
“If anyone believes
these bills are not motivat
ed by raw partisan power
politics, I’d like to offer
you an excellent bat gain ffe re j s a proposed map of what the redrawn wards would look like if Bill 519 is passed. The bill was endorsed by
Fl 11 ^ swam P ant 111 N.C. House Representatives Donny Lambeth and Debra Conrad.
and district seats e.g.,
Charlotte, Cary, Durham,
Greenville, Greensboro,
High Point, Raleigh and
Wilmington.
“... HB 519 is the first
major reform in several
years of the city elections
process and brings the City
of Winston-Salem’s Coun
cil elections in-line with
other large municipali
ties.”
If Bill 519 is passed,
the eight wards that we all
know (North, South, East,
West, Northwest, North
east, Southwest and South-
east) will become wards
numbered one through
five. Citizens will vote for
a representative in their
ward and three at-large
candidates, as well as the
Bill 519 could also
be bad news for the only
women on the city coun
cil. On the redrawn map,
Ward 2 combines what
we currently know as the
of the city. If the bill is ap
proved as is, Ward 2 will
be nearly 65 percent black
and less than 20 percent
white, which is shock
ing considering African-
removal of Bill 519. Presi
dent of the local NAACP
Rev. Alvin Carlisle said
they will not stand idly by
while thousands of vot
ers are silenced. He said,
can communities. The
Winston-Salem NACCP,
will not stand idly by while
the voice of the people is
silenced.”
geted three black women
on the city council and
drastically diminished the
voice of the black elec
torate, state and national
leaders immediately began
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mayor.
While it may seem to
give the voters more pow
er on who’s making the
decisions around the city, a
map of the proposed wards
released last week raised
serious questions -from
residents and members of
the city council about the
motive behind HB 519.
The map of the redrawn
wards shows only Council
members Jeff Macintosh
(Ward 1), John Larson
(Ward 4) and James Tay
lor (Ward 3) in wards by
themselves. Council mem
bers Robert Clark and Dan
Besse are both drawn in
Ward 5.
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East, North, and Northeast
Wards, which are repre
sented by Annette Scippio,
Denise “D.D.” Adams, and
Mayor Tempore Vivian
Burke, all who just happen
to be black.
When looking at the
numbers, Ward 2 doesn’t
reflect the racial make-up
Americans only make up
about. 34 percent of the
total population, according
to a recent U.S. Census.
In response to the re
drawn districts the Win
ston-Salem Chapter of the
NAACP and the Winston-
Salem Urban League have
called for the immediate
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“This piece of legislation
is typical of the kind of
wrangling that we have
come to expect of this ex
tremist controlled legisla
ture.
“They consistently
seek to garner unearned
power by circumventing
the will of African Ameri ¬
President and CEO of
the Winston-Salem Urban
League James Perry said,
“Reps Conrad and Lam
beth have put forth a bill
that could have the same
chilling effect on Win
ston-Salem that HB2 had
on North Carolina. Upon
learning that HB 519 tar-
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of Winston-Salem, LLC
contacting me with talk of
a Winston-Salem boycott.”
Attempts to reach Rep.
Lambeth and Rep. Conrad
were unsuccessful at the
time of publication. If Bill
519 is approved, it will go
into effect in 2020.
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