Triad City Beat | North Carolina Democratic Party confirms election of successor Ashton Clemmons and rejects complaint from Black Guilford Dems

On Sunday evening, the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Review Council heard arguments from a group of black Democrats from Guilford County who alleged that procedures were rigged in the filling of Rep. Ashton Clemmons’ seat earlier this month.

In three separate votes, council members voted against the main points of the complaint filed by nine people on August 8. In doing so, the council certified the election that led to the swearing-in of Tracy Clark as Clemmons’ successor in the 57th House District.

Clark was elected by the 57th District polls to replace Clemmons on the November ballot and to serve out the remainder of her term. Clemmons announced her resignation plans on July 15 through X and formally submitted her resignation on August 5.

The three main complaints in the complaint are as follows:

• The way polling place officials cast their votes (in this case unweighted rather than weighted) to replace Clemmons was wrong.
• The candidates were voted on by the wrong political body.
• The elections should not have taken place before Clemmons officially vacated his seat.

“The council concluded that the complaint was without merit in all three cases,” said Kathy Kirkpatrick, chair of the Guilford County Democratic Party. TCB on Monday.

According to Kirkpatrick and an anonymous council member:

• The Council voted 11 to 3 that unweighted votes were the correct voting method.
• The Council voted 11 to 0 (with three abstentions) that the correct body had voted on the replacement.
• The council voted 11 to 3 that the seat did not have to be vacant for the party to hold elections.

Although the council voted against all allegations made in the complaint, it discussed during the nearly six-hour conference call whether or not to weight votes in future elections.

As TCB As has been reported, in weighted elections, county officials receive a certain number of votes based on the population of their district. Unweighted votes – which is how this election was conducted – mean that each district receives a total of two votes. This disproportionately affected black districts, the complaint said.

In a statement to TCBByron Gladden, chairman of the Guilford County African American Caucus and a complainant, said that while they were disappointed with the final outcome of the hearing, they were hopeful that the rules could be clarified in the future.

According to Gladden and Kirkpatrick, members of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Plan of Review Committee, which edits and advises on official party rules, will review and revise the plan in the future to ensure that future votes are weighted.

“While we disagree with their conclusion that no violation occurred, we are encouraged by their announcement that they would recommend that the Organizational Plan Committee revise the plan to require weighted voting for precinct chairs and vice chairs so that we never face a situation like this again,” Gladden wrote.

Kirkpatrick agreed with Gladden’s views.

“I am glad that the council has directed the organizational plan committee to make changes,” she said.

Looking ahead to the fall, it is now important to support Clark, who will face Republican Janice Davis in the November election, Kirkpatrick said.

“We’re absolutely going to stand behind them,” Kirkpatrick said. “We have to vote Democrats. We don’t have time to debate this any further.”