A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: A Voter Suppression Initiative in the City of Fayetteville

by 09/30/2022

Our city is currently being loaded with a disingenuous campaign to change the structure of our City Council. You might have received a mailer asking for your signature in support of changing local elections from district-based to a hybrid model of district and at-large elections. To recap, district elections mean individuals within specific neighborhoods will elect someone to represent them downtown. At-large means that the whole city gets to vote for a candidate.
Fayetteville does NOT need to change how we elect our local representatives. So let’s not fall victim to the arguments presented by the Vote Yes Fayetteville committee.

Let’s talk about that.

To begin, there is no connection between crime in Fayetteville and how we elect our municipal representatives. There is crime in cities and towns regardless of whether they have district or at-large elections. This is a scare tactic to make you think that the city is out of control which it is not. According to the 2020 Fayetteville Police Department’s Annual Report, crime in our city has been on a five-year decline. This report was compiled by a Police Department that received an increase in its budget this year.

Citizens in Fayetteville can contact and share their opinions with ALL members of City Council. Our elected officials constantly discuss issues outside their own district. Changing our elections will not fix the problems of priority focus, it will worsen them. Running a political campaign at-large versus a district-wide campaign requires BIG MONEY. This means that at-large representatives will focus more on obtaining sufficient finances for an election that happens every two years rather than the needs of our city.

Besides, who do you want to represent YOU? Someone that lives in and understands your community or someone who simply has the money to run and win? The financial interests of at-large candidates will overshadow the interests of marginalized communities.

This pushes purpose is to remove the power of communities across our city. Vote “No” to changing the structure of the Fayetteville City Council.

 

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