From the CCEC Board of Directors

A Position Paper On The Issue Of
November 2006 "Vote by District" Referendum:

CCEC, Inc. - October 2006

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities opposes the adoption of the proposed referendum to end-countywide voting for the Chatham County Board of Commissioners. CCEC believes such a scheme would reduce citizen participation in county government, harm the best interests of the county, disenfranchise new residents and minority groups, and undermine the efforts of Chatham’s people to forge real solutions to the critical issues facing our county.


Referendum Question as it will appear on the November ballot:

"Shall the structure of the board of county commissioners be altered to provide that one commissioner be nominated and elected from each of the five electoral districts by the qualified voters in each district only?" (At present, all five commissioners are nominated and elected by the qualified voters of the entire county.)


After reviewing all available information, CCEC believes that the adoption of this referendum would NOT be in the best interests of Chatham County.

For the past 32 years under the current system, citizens of Chatham have had the right to vote for all five candidates in all five County Commissioner races. The proposed referendum, if passed, would reduce citizen involvement in County government and actually diminish the ability of all citizens to choose who serves them on their Board of Commissioners. CCEC questions the wisdom and rationale for effectively restricting anyone from voting for each and every Commissioner candidate.

CCEC believes that the ever-increasing countywide issues facing Chatham and its elected Board of Commissioners deserve and demand the attention of all County Commissioners as elected by vote of all Chatham citizens. Such issues include but are not limited to our schools and educational facilities, environmental protection of our natural resources, our public health policies, effective management of economic development, managed residential and commercial growth that adheres to the county Vision and its Land Use Conservation and Development Plan, water resource management, wastewater management, solid waste management and the fiscal health of the County.

Chatham's people face all of these critical issues together and these issues impact the quality of life for all of us. CCEC believes that because Chatham is geographically large and culturally diverse with citizens often holding opposing views on critical issues that cross this diversity and affect the quality of life of the entire county, all five Commissioners need to address these problems. District-only voting means that a commissioner would only be responsible to a single district for re-election. Such a narrow responsibility can lead to an equally narrow view of the County, and lead to disharmony and inefficiency on the board, which would not serve the best interests of the entire County. Campaigning in all the districts leads to a better understanding of various areas of the County. Restricting campaigning to one district can lead to an isolated viewpoint of county issues. Voting for a Commissioner representing but one district does not foster commitment to countywide issues.

CCEC believes that without County-wide voting, the opportunity for minorities such as women, African-Americans and Hispanics to be elected to the Board of Commissioners is weakened, as historically no woman or African-American was ever elected before county-wide voting was enacted in the mid 1970’s. Passage of the referendum as stated could reverse the progress that has been made in assuring equal opportunities for minority voters.

CCEC believes that the timing of the referendum for the November 2006 election is ill conceived and the purposes behind it are questionable. It's approval would be in the context of *gerrymandered election districts recently adopted by the current Board of Commissioners. This redistricting was based upon outdated population statistics and it established districts that are not now substantially equal in population. If, in addition, the referendum were approved, the districts with the largest current and projected populations would be underrepresented.


In summary, CCEC finds that the current referendum does nothing to "empower all citizens to enhance Chatham’s future," which is the mission CCEC pursues, but rather has the potential to disempower and disenfranchise citizens to the detriment of the county’s health, welfare and quality of life.

CCEC, Inc. Board of Directors

October 2006


(CCEC, Inc. is a 501(c)4 non-for-profit grassroots citizens’ action organization based in Chatham County North Carolina for the purpose of advocating on behalf of citizens in regards to countywide issues, and seeking to influence decision-making on all issues that impact the quality of life of Chatham and neighboring counties.)


* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymander

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Map of proposed districts

The map along with other related information may be accessed via the following link: http://www.co.chatham.nc.us/CountyCommissioners/redistricting.htm