Electoral reform

Electoral reform

Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...

 in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

refers to efforts to change the voting and election laws in the Tar Heel State.

Instant Runoff Voting

Cary, North Carolina

Cary, North Carolina

Cary is a large town and suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located almost entirely in Wake County, it is the second largest municipality in that county and the third largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham...

 was scheduled to hold its first instant runoff voting election on October 9, 2007, and Hendersonville, North Carolina

Hendersonville, North Carolina

Hendersonville is a city in Henderson County, North Carolina, USA, southeast of Asheville. In 1900, 1,917 persons lived in Hendersonville; in 1910, 2,818; and in 1940, 5,381 people lived here. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,223, up fivefold in one century. It is the county...

 was scheduled to use IRV for the first time on November 6, 2007. Wake County, North Carolina

Wake County, North Carolina

Wake County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 900,993 making it North Carolina's second most populated county...

 had chosen Cary as a test site for the system .

Electoral College

United States Electoral College

The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...

In 2007, bills were introduced to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement among U.S. states designed to replace current state rules governing the electoral college system of presidential elections with rules guaranteeing election of the national popular vote winner...

 and award the state's 15 electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote, but these bills did not become law.

2009

In 2009 a bill was introduced by North Carolina State Senator Jim Jacumin on March 19, 2009 as SB731, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2009. Soon after North Carolina State Senator Andrew C. Brock signed on as a Co-Sponsor of Electoral Freedom Act. On March 24, 2009 the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary I, where was never brought back up and died in committee when it missed the legislative cross over deadline for non-appropriation/budget bills. The goal of the Electoral Freedom Act of 2009 was to amend NC Election Law in NCGS Chapter 163 to reduce the number of signatures needed for third political parties and unaffiliated candidates to obtain access to the NC election ballot.

2011

Currently Free the Vote North Carolina is gearing up for a 2011 electoral reform legislative project, which by and large is a reviving of the bill introduced in 2009 and with some new additions, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2011 (Bill Proposal PDF). The goal of the Electoral Freedom Act of 2011 is to amend NC Election Law in NCGS Chapter 163 to reduce the number of signatures needed for third political parties and unaffiliated candidates to obtain access to the NC election ballot as well as eliminating the current requirement for write-in candidates to obtain signatures to have votes cast for them counted. The bill already has the support of many political parties in North Carolina including the American Centrist Party of North Carolina which issued a press release in support of the bill proposal.