The Bladen County Board of Commissioners is considering a plan to reduce its members from nine to five–a move that some residents and activists say could diminish representation of Black voters.
The board plans to discuss the proposal at its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 1. Under the proposal, Bladen County voters would decide in a November referendum whether to change the size of the board, which sets the property tax rate, funds schools and services, and considers new development projects.
Bladen is one of only four counties in North Carolina governed by nine commissioners, said board chair Cameron McGill, who proposed the referendum during a board meeting on May 18. The issue wasn’t on the agenda, McGill said, “to make sure there wasn’t too much campaigning behind it.”
Bladen County switched to a nine-member board in 1988 as part of a voluntary settlement after its makeup was challenged in court as racially discriminatory, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice said in a news release Friday.
McGill said the premise of that lawsuit was unconstitutional, hinting at the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month in Louisiana v. Callais. The 6-3 ruling struck down the state’s voting map, saying lawmakers improperly considered race when they created a majority Black district. Critics said the ruling weakens the Voting Rights Act and limits the power of nonwhite voters.
Legal experts predict other states will redraw voting maps for partisan gain, since the ruling could make it harder to challenge them in court.
McGill’s proposal is “a test case for local-level attempts to weaponize the post-Callais landscape to roll back Black political representation,” the Southern Coalition for Social Justice said.
Ophelia Munn-Goins, one of three Black commissioners in Bladen County, said she was concerned about what a smaller board would mean locally. About 32% of Bladen residents are Black.
Munn-Goins, who represents District 1, also questioned McGill’s idea that all five commissioners would be elected to at-large seats.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice said such a structure “would dramatically alter Black voters’ representation in the county.”
McGill, who said he does not want “to disenfranchise anybody in this county,” argued that his proposal could reduce the county budget. Commissioners also plan to discuss the budget on June 1, including a proposal to increase the local property tax rate by a quarter-cent.
McGill said the county had “done a pretty good job of trimming things down in all of the departments so that we don’t have anybody just sitting around twiddling their thumbs.”
“But,” he said, “I think it’s somewhat hypocritical for us not to consider ourselves.”