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BIG CITY: Districts shake up county board

Posted on April 19, 2012April 18, 2012 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff writer

A lot of things changed in Orange County when we added two district elections for county commissioners. Some changes were subtle, some not so.

For starters, the whole process became a lot more confusing. During the primary you can only vote in the at-large races and contests within your home district. In the general election, you get to vote in the at-large race and both district races.

Since we’re among the most heavily Democratic counties in the state, the primary decides the makeup of the board. It is such a fact of life here that for all the times I’ve said as much over the past 20 years, which is a lot, no GOP official has ever phoned up to dispute it. Someday, we may see an actual Republican elected to the board, but the county, the party and likely both would have to change considerably beforehand.

We’ve only had districts since 2008, so it’s been interesting to see how the change has unfolded.
Because the outcome in November tends to get decided in the primary, the biggest practical effect was the elimination of the say of roughly two-thirds of the county’s voters for two seats on the board (the two District 2 seats). This had a much bigger impact than the elimination of one-third of the county’s say over the three southern District 1 seats because the percentage of Democratic voters is lower in the northern district and collectively those northern voters did not have as great an overall impact on electing board members as the heavily populated and more Democratic southern areas.

In practice, moving to district representation has resulted in what most people predicted: the election to the board of somewhat more conservative Democrats in the northern district. You might think that it follows then that representation in the southern seats would shift a little left. It hasn’t so far. Whether that’s a quirk of timing, the availability and interest of potential candidates or habit, I’m not sure, but until this primary we haven’t seen the kind of progressives that get elected in municipal races in Chapel Hill and Carrboro running for District 1 seats.

When Mark Dorosin and Penny Rich joined incumbent Pam Hemminger in the race for the two District 1 seats up this year, that tack to the left finally happened. Both challengers have experience on town boards and had to win races where the electorate is far more progressive than the county as a whole.

And while both may not be all that far from Hemminger on most positions, they are making the case that the board of commissioners has become more conservative than the people it represents.

It will be up to the challengers to convince the electorate that there is a difference with distinction. Hemminger may have a slight advantage in name recognition, but in a year with a decidedly anti-incumbent mood, she’s in a tough spot. To win, she has to carefully pick and choose which decisions in the last four years to defend and which to run against.

The same holds true for Steve Yuhasz, who is facing a strong challenge from Renee Price. Price lost two years ago to Earl McKee in a race that was decided by 87 votes out of a total 5,379 cast. Yuhasz, who won handily in a three-way primary in 2008, is in a tougher, two-way fight this time around. He’s a solid campaigner and debater, but Price is no novice and has been campaigning hard for the seat. She also has an organization that learned some lessons in the tough loss two years ago.

Beyond this year, the county may have to take a hard look at the district lines, which pretty much mirror the school system boundaries. Both Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been adding people faster than Hillsborough and the rest of the northern portion of the county. At some point the difference between the numbers of people represented by the district seats could exceed the 5 percent variation allowed under the legal interpretation of “one person, one vote.”

The commissioners will then have to make some alterations to the districts, a process that will no doubt be watched with great interest.

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