Civil Rights Groups Call For Withdrawal Of Bill To Consolidate Council Wards

The Winston-Salem chapter of the NAACP and the city's Urban League are calling on lawmakers to withdraw a bill they say is discriminatory. 

The city is currently divided into eight council wards, each with its own elected city council member. House Bill 519, sponsored by Reps. Donny Lambeth and Debra Conrad, would change that to five wards, and three council members would be elected from the city at-large.

President and CEO of Winston-Salem's Urban League, James Perry, says three wards that would be consolidated under the plan are currently represented by black city council members, D.D. Adams, Vivian Burke, and Annette Scippio.  

“Each one of those wards has a high percentage of African American voters and when you move forward to diminish the number of districts you have, you make it more difficult for those African American voters to have a voice in what happens in their particular community,” Perry says.

Forsyth County Republican Donny Lambeth, one of the bill's co-sponsors, says the move would put the city in line with other municipalities across the state, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. The proposal would also reduce terms of office for council members and the mayor from four to two years.