ROCKINGHAM — More than 560 Richmond County voters have switched their party affiliations in the past 15 months, according to records with the local Board of Elections.
Registration records as of March 30 show that 260 voters have become unaffiliated since Jan 1, 2021.
Of those, 123 came from the Democratic Party, 88 from the Republican Party, 33 from the Constitution Party, 13 from the Green Party and three from the Libertarian Party.
Earlier this month, the Carolina Journal reported that the number of unaffiliated voters surpassed that of those registered with the Democratic Party.
However, that’s not the case in Richmond County.
Records show that of the 27,541 registered voters on March 22, 12,344 are Democrats, 8,099 are unaffiliated, 6,982 are Republicans, and 116 are Libertarians.
The total number of registered voters has decreased by 2,883 since Oct. 15, 2018.
The state does not currently recognize the Constitution and Green parties.
Although the March 23 records show no registered voters for either of those parties, the March 30 report indicates one Republican switched to the Green Party, and one individual from each the Republican and Democratic parties changed to the Constitution Party.
Elections Director Connie Kelly said those numbers are from before those parties lost ballot access a month following the start of the sample.
The Republican Party has gained 957 registered voters since Oct. 15, 2018 — 210 since the start of 2021: 106 from the Democratic Party; and 104 who were formerly unaffiliated.
By the same token, the Democratic Party has lost 3,955 voters. In addition to 229 who either went Republican or unaffiliated, one switched to the Libertarian Party.
Richmond County had long been a Democrat stronghold, but election results show voters swung to the right in 2020 with Republicans receiving a majority of votes in the presidential, gubernatorial, and House and Senate races.
Richmond County Republican Party Chairman Jerry Austin told the RO why he thinks people have moved to the GOP.
“I think many people are fed up with what is going on nationally with the Democratic Party,” Austin said. Open borders, contempt for working class, attacking of parents and the push for (critical race theory), canceling of pipeline construction and their unwillingness to become energy independent, tax-and-spend mentality, lack of concern/inaction related to inflation, weakening of our great country on the world stage, (and) defunding of law enforcement are just a few concerns of working-class Americans.
“The minority progressive wing has taken over the Democratic Party and their views are definitely not in line with Main Street America.”
Democrat voters outnumber Republicans in all but two of the county’s 16 districts: Steeles No. 2 and Black Jack No. 1.
Likewise, there are more unaffiliated than Republican voters in all three Rockingham districts, the four Wolf Pit districts, and both districts in the Marks Creek and Beaver Dam areas.
State Rep. Ben Moss was the first Republican elected to the board in more than 100 years. The same year he was elected to the state House (also the first Republican to hold that seat), three GOP members were elected to the board: Toni Maples, Jeff Smart and Andy Grooms.
Commissioner Justin Dawkins was appointed to fill Moss’ seat on the board, making four.
Commissioner Rick Watkins was elected to his first term as a Democrat, but is running for his second as a Republican.
The May 17 primary will also feature seven Republicans running for the Richmond County Board of Commissioners — the most Kelly remembers ever running during her time with the Board of Elections.
In addition to Dawkins and Watkins, the other Republican candidates are Robin Roberts, Karen Everett, Jason Gainey, Thomas Davenport and Danny Pearson.
Davenport previously ran as an unaffiliated candidate, but did not acquire the designated number of signatures.
This year, there are two unaffiliated candidates trying to get on the November ballot: Joe Ward and Bryan Stanback. Johnathan Buie, a former Hamlet city councilman, was originally collecting signatures, but withdrew from the race.
Petitioners will have to solicit 1,094 valid signatures from Richmond County voters by May 17 to be on the ballot in November.
There are also seven Democrats running for commissioner: incumbents Don Bryant and Tavares Bostic; as well as Abbie Covington, Michael Legrand, Tyrannia Ellerbe, Kevin Clark and Linda Ross.
Bryant and Bostic are currently the only Democrats on the board.
Read more about the upcoming primary here.
