FairVote - Forsyth County

Forsyth County

All of the individual cities within Forsyth County provide sufficient representation for racial minorities, and the county as a whole does not have any boards or governing bodies that are glaringly unrepresentative. The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners consists of seven members who serve four year staggered terms. They are elected through partisan elections in which six of the commissioners are elected from two multi-member districts and one is elected from the county at large. There are currently two African American members who sufficiently represent the 23.7% of the population which is African American.

The Forsyth County School Board consists of nine members whose elections are not staggered. Four of the members are elected from one district and two from another, while the remaining three are elected from the county at large. Currently, two of the school board members are African American, again, sufficiently representing the African American population. The eight City Council members in Winton-Salem, Forsyth Countyís largest city, are elected from each of eight districts. Their elections occur every four years and are not staggered.

There is, however, a progressive community in the county that has recognized that elections need to be monitored and changed. An article in the local Winston-Salem Journal mentioned a group called CHANGE, who monitored the primary elections held in July of 2004. This group was then going to meet with the County Board of Elections and work with them to improve the election system. An added bonus, the city of Winston-Salem it self has nine colleges and universities in and around it. While there are no immediate problems in Forsyth County it seems like a community that would be open to our ideas.



Home. > Program for Representative Government > Our Work > North Carolina Reform Roundtables > Minority under-representation > The Problem > Forsyth County
	Forsyth County All of the individual cities within Forsyth County provide sufficient representation for racial minorities, and the county as a whole does not have any boards or governing bodies that are glaringly unrepresentative. The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners consists of seven members who serve four year staggered terms. They are elected through partisan elections in which six of the commissioners are elected from two multi-member districts and one is elected from the county at large. There are currently two African American members who sufficiently represent the 23.7% of the population which is African American. The Forsyth County School Board consists of nine members whose elections are not staggered. Four of the members are elected from one district and two from another, while the remaining three are elected from the county at large. Currently, two of the school board members are African American, again, sufficiently representing the African American population. The eight City Council members in Winton-Salem, Forsyth Countyís largest city, are elected from each of eight districts. Their elections occur every four years and are not staggered. There is, however, a progressive community in the county that has recognized that elections need to be monitored and changed. An article in the local Winston-Salem Journal mentioned a group called CHANGE, who monitored the primary elections held in July of 2004. This group was then going to meet with the County Board of Elections and work with them to improve the election system. An added bonus, the city of Winston-Salem it self has nine colleges and universities in and around it. While there are no immediate problems in Forsyth County it seems like a community that would be open to our ideas.	Recent Articles October 19th 2009 A better election system Lowell Sun Election expert Doug Amy explains how choice voting can "inject new blood" into the elections of Lowell (MA), and give voters a greater incentive to participate. October 16th 2009 Haven't Detroit voters spoken enough? Livingston Daily In Detroit, there have been three mayors in the past two years and the current one has come under scrutiny. Perhaps a system like instant runoff voting will help bring political stability to motor city. August 21st 2009 Black candidate for Euclid school board to test new voting system Cleveland Plain Dealer Limited voting, a form of proportional voting, will be used in Euclid (OH), in the hopes of allowing better representation of minorities. July 2nd 2009 Reforming Albany New York Times FairVote's Rob Richie responds in a letter to the editor making the case for proportional voting systems to bring substantive reform to New York's legislature.