On Tuesday, the Asheville city council will discuss the results of a poll it commissioned regarding the creation of districts for future elections.
In response to last year’s bill in the General Assembly that would have created districts for city council elections, current council members decided they would pay for a poll to gauge voter interest on a potential switch from at-large seats. The results - 54% of those polled say the city should keep its current system. But, 72% believe the issue should be put to voters via referendum. And if that theoretical referendum were to take place, 54% say they would support creating council districts.
The current council will try to make sense of the poll at their meeting as another attempt to force the city to draw districts is underway in Raleigh. Republican state senator Chuck Edwards is the sponsor of this year’s bill. Part of the district he represents in the General Assembly includes South Asheville, an area of the city where no current council member lives. Just over 400 city residents were interviewed by Campaign Research & Strategy, a South Carolina-based polling firm. Respondents included both landline and mobile phone users. The margin of error in the poll is 4.9%.
