AN ACT to change the election method for the lincoln county board of education from nonpartisan to partisan.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Section 5 of Chapter 876 of the Session Laws of 1973, as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 179 of the Session Laws of 1983, Chapter 155 of the Session Laws of 1985, and Chapter 304 of the Session Laws of 1989, reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 5. 
Persons to be elected from districts shall reside in the district they represent, but the qualified voters of the entire county shall elect all members of the board.
Beginning in 2022, the election of the Lincoln County Board of Education shall be conducted on a partisan basis at the time of the general election in each even‑numbered year as terms expire. Candidates for election to the Lincoln County Board of Education shall be nominated at the same time and manner as other county officers. Except as provided by this act, the election shall be conducted by the Lincoln County Board of Elections in accordance with Chapter 115C and Chapter 163 of the General Statutes.
In 2022 and quadrennially thereafter, three members shall be elected to the Lincoln County Board of Education for a term of four years. In 2024 and quadrennially thereafter, four members shall be elected to the Lincoln County Board of Education for a term of four years. The members of the Lincoln County Board of Education nominated and elected shall take office on the first Monday in December following their election, and the terms of their office shall date and extend from that time. The terms of their predecessors shall expire at that same time. Members shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.
Vacancies on the Lincoln County Board of Education for positions elected on a nonpartisan basis in 2018 or 2020 shall be filled by appointment by the remaining members of the Board until the next election of the members of the Board, at which time the remaining unexpired term of the office in which the vacancy occurs shall be filled by election. Beginning in 2022, vacancies on the Lincoln County Board of Education for positions elected on a partisan basis shall be filled by appointment by the remaining members of the Board, in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37.1."
SECTION 2.  This act does not affect the terms of office of any member elected in 2018 or 2020 to the Lincoln County Board of Education. The members of the Lincoln County Board of Education elected in 2018 and 2020, or any member appointed to fill a vacancy for the remainder of an unexpired term for a member elected in 2018 or 2020, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.
SECTION 3.  Effective on the first Monday in December of 2022, G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Dare, Davie, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Washington, and Yancey."
SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 5th day of August, 2021.

	s/	 Warren Daniel
	 Presiding Officer of the Senate

	s/	 Tim Moore
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives