Council members floated the idea of districting at an agenda meeting on January 12. But Mayor Brenda Bozeman said it was far from the first time the idea had come up.
"[Districting] has been a topic off-and-on for years now," she said. "And we weren't large enough to do it before, but now, there's a need for it."
The State Demographer estimates over 33,000 people live in Leland. That's a 44% increase since the last U.S. Census count in 2020, or an additional 10,000 residents. Currently, the town holds at-large elections for town council, meaning residents can vote for whoever they want, regardless of where they live.
Voting districts could simplify the council electoral process. Each area would have its own representative to turn to with concerns, and each area would have the same amount of representation on the council. But UNCW political science professor Aaron King said districts could also introduce complications. For one, Leland is still growing — which would make population-based districts tough to draw.
"Populations are always shifting. You know, all you need in Leland is to throw up another neighborhood with 500 houses, and then suddenly there's a huge shift in population," he told WHQR.
King said there was also the question of how the maps would be created.
"If you decide that you're going to have districts, well, somebody's got to draw them, right?" he said.
Currently, Leland's town council elections are nonpartisan. Town manager David Hollis also said that state law does not require municipalities to get state approval on municipal voting maps, except in rare circumstances. So it appears unlikely that any one political party would be able to dictate the layout of any map.
But King said North Carolina's lengthy history with politicized gerrymandering has still sown distrust with voters.
"These things can become political. And I'm not saying that they necessarily would in Leland, right?" he said. "But that's a criticism that people have, and there's certainly something to it when, you know, is it that politicians are choosing their voters as opposed to voters choosing their politicians?"
Hollis told WHQR that his office was still researching what options would be available should the mayor and council move forward with introducing districts. At this juncture, he wasn't able to say who would be in charge of drawing district lines.
"We haven't really discussed it with the council to know how they want us to do that," he said. "We've internally been looking through our process with our GIS system… we have been looking at that and trying to determine what areas have what number of addresses, and then that can somewhat be equated to population."
He also emphasized that the town was still solidly in the ideas stage. Even if the town council signs off on district lines, there's a long procedure involving public hearings and discussion ahead. Any map likely wouldn't come into play til 2027.
"We haven't had a true discussion with council about it in any way beyond just, 'hey, that seems like a good idea. Let's talk about it,'" Hollis said.
Hollis is due to present on the topic during next month's agenda meeting on February 16. Council member Frank Pendleton also asked to discuss the addition of more members to the council at the same meeting. From there, the mayor and town council can decide on whether to proceed, or keep the town district-free.
