CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The ballot is set for the partisan primary for Charlotte City Council. Jennifer Moxley, a registered unaffiliated voter, wants to run for a seat. It turns out, she'll need to jump through a few extra hoops to do so since she's not part of a party.
Moxley is a mother, former reporter, and small business owner in Charlotte. She lives, works and plays, she says, in district one which stretches from Hidden Valley through NoDa, Plaza Midwood, down to Dilworth including other neighborhoods.
"This has been a long time coming," she said.
She said she's been unaffiliated for a majority of her voting record. She admits she's leaned towards the democratic party but remains independent.
"I always go into things making he best decision I can with the information I have," she said. "Independent is comfortable."
Before the filing deadline for candidates, Moxley went to file to run for Charlotte City Council in district one.
"So, I went back with my $216 filing fee and that's when we discovered, because I'm unaffiliated, I have an extra step to go through," she said.
In order for Moxley to get her name on the general election ballot, Mecklenburg County Board of Elections Director Michael Dickerson said Moxley has to get 1,323 registered voters in district one to sign a petition.
Dickerson said since Moxley is not registered to a specific party, state law requires her to get 1.5% of registered voters in her district to sign a petition.
"By nature of being unaffiliated you're not a member of a party," Dickerson said. "Let's face it, we don't want to just put, you know, 50 names on a ballot and say, ok go pick your candidate."
The general assembly requires the process for unaffiliated candidates wanting to enter a partisan race.
Although unaffiliated is not a political party in North Carolina, currently, there are 281,441 Mecklenburg County voters registered as unaffiliated. That's more than the 161,856 people in the county registered as republicans and a bit less than the 332,940 registered democrats.
"Ultimately, we all want things to be equal, we all want things to be fair," Moxley said. "We want an even playing field and this experience is already showing how it may not be what people think."
"It is not an equal playing field for everyone," she added.
Moxley currently has 48 signatures, far less than the goal she'll need to meet in a matter of months before the general election.
She plans to get as many signatures as possible and rely on the board of elections office to vet which ones should count and which ones should not.
For the next few weeks, Moxley is meeting people for signatures and is sending out delegations of volunteers to gather signatures as well. They have to be signed in person, and nobody can sign the petition for others.
She knows it's an uphill battle, but it's one she says is worth it.
"This is just another check mark that we have to push and work through," Moxley said.
Dickerson said the current process does lay out an avenue for unaffiliated voters to run for office in partisan elections, but the only way to get rid of the petition requirement would be if the general assembly got rid of it or if council elections shifted to non-partisan elections.