AN ACT to provide for a voter referendum on changing the method of election of the iredell‑statesville schools board of education from partisan to nonpartisan.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Section 3.5 of S.L. 2015‑35, as amended by Section 30 of S.L. 2015‑264, reads as rewritten:

SECTION 3.5.(a)  Notwithstanding the PLAN OF MERGER OF THE IREDELL COUNTY AND STATESVILLE CITY SCHOOLS, as amended by Section 2 of S.L. 2002‑18, beginning in 2016, 2022, members of the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education shall be elected on a partisan nonpartisan plurality basis at the time of the general election in each even‑numbered year as terms expire. Candidates for election to the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education shall be nominated at the same time and manner as other county officers. expire in accordance with G.S. 163‑292. Candidates shall file notice of candidacy not earlier than 12:00 noon on the first Friday in July (except that if that day is a holiday, then not earlier than 12:00 noon on the next Monday) and not later than 12:00 noon on the first Friday in August of the year of election.

Members elected shall take office and qualify on the first Monday in December of the year of their election and the terms of their predecessors shall expire at that same time. Vacancies on the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education for positions elected on a partisan basis in 2018 or 2020 shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37.1.

SECTION 3.5.(b)  For positions elected on a nonpartisan basis in 2012 or 2014, beginning in 2022, vacancies occurring in the membership of the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education shall be filled for the unexpired term by the remaining members of the Board of Education.

SECTION 1.(b)  This act does not affect the terms of office of any person elected in 2018 or 2020 to the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education. Each member of the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education elected in 2018 and 2020, or any member appointed to fill a vacancy for a member elected in 2018 or 2020, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.

SECTION 2.  Effective the first Monday in December of 2022, G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:

(d)      This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Dare, Davie, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Lee, Madison, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Washington, and Yancey.

SECTION 3.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act become effective only if approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Administrative Unit in a referendum. The election shall be conducted by the Iredell County Board of Elections on November 3, 2020. The question on the ballot shall be:

[ ] FOR          [ ] AGAINST

Changing the election method of the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board of Education from partisan to nonpartisan.

SECTION 4.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act become effective upon ratification of the approval by the voters of the referendum set forth in Section 3 of this act. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.