The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners recently passed a resolution asking the North Carolina Legislature to pass a law requiring partisan Mitchell County School Board elections. The Commissioners unanimously voted to pass the resolution Commissioner Brandon Pitman did not vote, as he was not at the meeting. Mitchell County would join Yancey and 38 other school districts who have partisan school board elections (115 districts are not partisan). Under North Carolina law all Board of Education elections are nonpartisan unless individual counties pass local resolutions otherwise. Commissioners noted that by having partisan elections people are better informed about the candidate’s political views and can vote accordingly. Commissioner Brandon Pitman said, “As a parent, a voter and a school teacher, when I show up to vote I want to know where those candidates’ values lie on major issues facing our kids.” A the commissioners meeting held Tuesday evening February 21st, three people did express their disagreement with the resolution, saying they did not think politics should be a part of school board elections.
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