HB 271 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Cabarrus County Local Omnibus.

HB 271 alters how municipal elections are conducted in several towns and cities in Cabarrus County. The bill changes regular municipal elections in the City of Concord, Town of Harrisburg, City of Kannapolis, Town of Midland, and Town of Mount Pleasant from a nonpartisan to a partisan basis. For the City of Concord, it also specifies that only voters residing in a particular district can vote for that district's City Council member, rather than the entire city voting for all members. These changes will apply to elections held in 2025 and thereafter.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

May 2025

House Passage

May 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 3, 2025 Last action May 15, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 1 → Edition 2 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was fundamentally rewritten to shift from mandating partisan elections to requiring a public referendum on whether municipalities should switch from nonpartisan to partisan elections. This change gives voters a direct say in the election method rather than imposing partisan elections automatically. The bill also added procedures for handling vacancies on the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners.

Scope change

The bill's scope changed from automatically implementing partisan elections for specific municipalities to requiring a public vote on whether to change election methods. This applies to the same municipalities (Concord, Harrisburg, Midland, Kannapolis, Mount Pleasant) but now requires voter approval before partisan elections can take effect.

REQUIREMENT

Changed from mandating partisan elections to requiring a referendum vote on whether to switch from nonpartisan to partisan elections

Added new section requiring referendum on changing Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners vacancy filling process

TIMELINE

Added specific referendum dates (November 3, 2025) and implementation timeline (effective December 2027 if approved)

SCOPE

Removed specific district-based voting requirements for Concord City Council and replaced with referendum process

TECHNICAL

Changed bill title from 'Partisan Elections/Muni./Cabarrus Co.' to 'Cabarrus Co Local Omnibus' to reflect the referendum approach

Floor votes · House May 14, 2025

How they voted

68–41

Passed · 12 other

Total votes 121

May 14, 2025

D Democratic46

3 Yea 39 Nay 4

84% Nay

I Independent2

2 Nay

100% Nay

R Republican73

65 Yea 8

89% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 15, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate

upper

May 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed 3rd Reading

lower

May 13, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav

lower

May 13, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

May 13, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav Com Substitute

lower

Mar 20, 2025

Committee

Re-ref to the Com on Election Law, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 6, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 5, 2025

Committee

Ref to the Com on Election Law, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 3, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

1 primary · 3 co-sponsors