By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
More than 20 years ago, the Rev. David Moore was a party to a voting-rights lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed to rectify racial inequities at the polls, eventually led to the election of the first black member of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.
These days, Moore, a former county commissioner, contends limited voting has outlived its usefulness to Beaufort County.
“It’s a free-for-all now,” Moore said during an interview in his Washington office.
Moore, a black Democrat, fears that limited voting — originally intended to consolidate black voting strength — could weaken minority representation on the board this year.
Moore cited the fact that Democratic commissioner candidates Ed Booth, the incumbent, and Darwin Woolard are vying for their party’s nomination.
Booth and Woolard, both black, are two of four Democrats seeking the three seats available on the Board of Commissioners this year.
Moore worries that Booth and Woolard could “cancel each other out” in the May 4 primary elections, raising the possibility that neither man would advance to the Nov. 2 general election.
“It’s very possible that we could lose that minority seat because it’s going to be a free-for-all,” Moore said.
Woolard, a former Washington councilman, disagreed, saying that he’s not in the race to unseat Booth.
“I feel that he has a great backing of constituents, and I feel that there will be no one that will be able to draw them away from him,” Woolard said.
Moore indicated that his concerns are based partly on projected voter turnout in this midterm election year.
“Historically, minorities don’t vote like we should unless it’s a presidential election,” he said. “This is not a presidential election.”
Limited options
Under limited voting, a county voter is permitted to mark a ballot for just one commissioner candidate, though several may be on the ballot.
Commissioners are elected on a countywide, or at-large, basis.
Limited voting has drawn complaints from voters who say they should be able to vote for more than one candidate.
Yet, limited voting has been credited with the election of black Democrats and white Republicans to the Board of Commissioners.
Though the method was a “godsend” at first, it’s time to revamp the system by installing districts from which to elect commissioners, Moore asserts.
After resigning from the board in 2004, Moore proposed a plan that would have brought about seven single-member districts from which to elect commissioners.
“The seven districts basically gave you the same thing that you have now,” Moore said Tuesday. “And you would know who your county commissioner is. That’s where I think that limited voting misses the mark.”
The commissioners did not pursue Moore’s plan.
Any change in Beaufort County’s election method would have to be approved by a federal court and the voting-rights section of the U.S. Department of Justice, experts have advised.
But first, the changes would be have to be endorsed by the commissioners and members of the minority community.
Professional opinion
In March 2007, the commissioners voted 5-2 to enlist the help of a political-science professor.
The board engaged Ted Arrington, then chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Arrington was tasked with studying the implications of modifying limited voting.
Arrington’s contract cost was not to exceed $15,000, read the minutes of the 2007 meeting.
The minutes suggest that Arrington, taking his cue from some commissioners, approached his report with the objective of increasing the vote from one to two candidates rather than pursuing the district method.
In June 2007, Arrington delivered his report to the commissioners, along with a bill for $8,371.15.
He charged $200 per hour for 40.25 hours of work, plus expenses that included meals and travel.
Arrington is a court-recognized expert witness and a consultant who has been widely quoted in media reports on political events and political figures.
In his report, Arrington noted that he analyzed election data, finding that “Beaufort County Commissioner elections are racially polarized 100% of the time.”
He said increasing the voting limit from one commissioner candidate to two commissioner candidates could pass muster.
This “would continue to provide black voters in Beaufort County with a reasonable opportunity to elect a representative of their choice,” Arrington wrote.
Yet, Arrington also emphasized, that was no guarantee of minority representation.
The commissioners haven’t acted on Arrington’s recommendation, and it’s clear that some of them still prefer districts as a remedy.
Abandoned mandate?
When the GOP won a 4-3 majority on the county board for the first time in 2002, the GOP members made it clear they wanted to scrap limited voting.
Toward that end, that board voted 6-1 to form the Fair Elections Citizens Task Force. (Moore, then serving on the board, cast the sole dissenting vote.) This commissioner-appointed group was charged with identifying ways to supplant limited voting.
The task force was chaired by then-former Commissioner Stan Deatherage, a Republican who later returned to the county board.
In September 2003, the panel voted 6-1 to recommend that the county replace limited voting by expanding the board of commissioners from a seven-member body to a nine-member board elected on an at-large basis.
The task force was disbanded later, and its recommendation went nowhere.
Today, Moore questions whether the Republican commissioners would want to do away with limited voting.
“The Republicans feel like they’ve got the perfect system, and honestly they do,” he said.
Among the commissioners serving during the task-force era was Jay McRoy, a Republican who still sits on the board.
“I personally don’t think the present election method is a good method,” McRoy said. “I would tend to favor districts. If I had to make a choice, I would pick the districts.”
Saying he “would welcome” a district plan, McRoy added, “I think the people need to be accountable in their area that they represent.”
Democratic Commissioner Robert Cayton was less certain.
“I think drawing districts in Beaufort County is going to be extremely challenging,” Cayton said.
Cayton hails from the Aurora area, where a minority district would likely be, provided suitable clusters of population could be fashioned.
The challenge in crafting districts would be in finding a fair balance, Cayton said, noting that, at present, he represents all county residents.
“There’s not an individual in this county that can call me and I can’t say, ‘Yes, I’m your commissioner,’” he commented.
Like McRoy, Republican Commissioner Al Klemm expressed unreserved support for converting to a district system.
“It might put some people that are currently in (office) at a disadvantage, depending on how districts are drawn,” Klemm said. “But my answer to that is get over it. We’re there to represent the people.”