GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — A group of unaffiliated voters is suing North Carolina lawmakers to get unaffiliated voter representation on the North Carolina Board of Elections.
The NC State Elections Board is comprised of five people, each appointed by the current Governor. The two political parties with the most registered voters send nominees to the Governor to choose from. No more than three people from one political party can be on the board.
While unaffiliated voters are not a political party, they are the largest group of voters in the state. Nearly 2.6 million North Carolinians are registered as unaffiliated (35% of all registered voters), compared to 2.4 million Democrats and 2.2 million Republicans.
A lawsuit, filed by the nonpartisan organization Common Cause NC claims that the current State Elections Board process discriminates against unaffiliated voters and violates their constitutional rights of free speech, freedom of association, and equal protection. It names NC House Speaker Tim Moore and NC Senate President Phil Berger in their official roles because changing the State Elections Board would require legislative action.
WFMY reached out to both Rep. Moore and Sen. Berger for a comment on the lawsuit. News 2 has not heard back as of Thursday afternoon.
"What we are trying to do, and what this lawsuit is about having this state elections board, that is responsible for the operation and the administration of our elections, to be representative of who we are in North Carolina including unaffiliated voters," said Bob Phillips, the executive director of Common Cause N.C.
Phillps said if the lawsuit is successful, the Board of Elections could still have five members but one of them would be an unaffiliated voter.
"There would have to be some guidelines that would be ironed out but we would want that to be a thoughtful debate at the North Carolina General Assembly with lots of public input and, of course, transparency," Phillips said.
Guilford County resident Tyler Daye is one of the unaffiliated plaintiffs in the lawsuit and is an outreach and engagement organizer with Common Cause NC.
"I was originally a member of one of the political parties and I chose to register as unaffiliated because I am concerned with the level of polarization going on within our politics and I think that our party system has gotten to a point where we are really severely polarized and it’s causing a lot of division," Daye said.
Daye said changing the system is a matter of fairness.
"Unaffiliated voters represent about a third of the electorate in North Carolina and I think that they should be represented on the State Board of Elections and also, in particular, I know that many younger voters are registering as unaffiliated and I think that it’s important that the Board of Elections represents the state," said Daye.
In a statement, the NC State Board of Elections said it "will comply with any orders of the court and continue to provide accessible, secure, and fair elections for the voters of North Carolina.”