This year, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (BOE) has asked the North Carolina legislature to move the municipal election of 2021 to 2022 and move the 2022 elections back two months. This is because the U.S. Census Bureau said it was five months behind schedule in releasing data that helps states construct their districts lines for this year. The district lines for the North Carolina federal and state election are redrawn every 10 years after the census, but the BOE worries that not moving it back would cause confusion and expense. 

Many North Carolina leaders have had problems with moving the 2021 and 2022 elections, according to the Daily Tar Heel. Hongbin Gu, a Chapel Hill Town Council member, argues that Chapel Hill town board has an open seat that needs to be filled. North Carolina Rep. Verla Insko has argued the districting only affects a few municipalities, so it’s unfair for the state to punish the local governments across the state for a few. Finally, Lauren Horsch, a spokesman for North Carolina Sen. Phil Berger, argues that the election is a year away. 

First, both sides have valid points. On the side of the opposition, open seats in local elections do need to be filled to prevent potential delays in decision making. The North Carolina BOE is also just stating facts that the census has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as have nearly everything that happens across the country right now. I, however, have to side with the BOE. 

There are two reasons for my support, with the first being that a lack of a clear district line could make the elections confusing. Voting is the right of every citizen, and therefore, the legislative should give the BOE the time it needs to make voting in North Carolina as smooth and clear as possible. My second reason for supporting the BOE is that moving the election back could give more local news agencies a chance to inform the public with more details about who is on the ballot, especially for local elections. 

There is one more thing to consider when thinking about these elections. We are going through one of the biggest natural disasters for the world and the United States in the last century in the form of the pandemic. The magnitude of this means options that may have been controversial before, might be the best choice now. Moving these elections is not an unnecessary solution, it is the change that is needed due to the times that we live in.