Is the partisan vs. non-partisan issue in Asheville city elections back for debate?

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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In a story time-stamped Nov. 13, 2008 at ENCToday.com, a reporter writes about the town of Kinston’s intentions to move to non-partisan city elections. The story quotes Kinston Mayor Buddy Ritch as saying the move to non-partisan elections will improve the voting process.

The story goes on to say that here in Asheville, residents are seeking to switch elections from non-partisan to partisan.

In Western North Carolina, Asheville residents are seeking to switch their municipal elections back to partisan after having non-partisan elections for several election cycles.

Ritch said he was recently briefed on Asheville’s desire to go back to partisan elections.

“I don’t know why they want to go back to partisan races,” Ritch said. “On the surface, non-partisan elections sound good but it’s important to be informed on the process.”

I thought we’d already been through all this, and here’s the recap: Last year, Asheville City Council voted to go to partisan elections, but a citizen’s group got up a petition and put the question to a referendum, and voters decided to keep Asheville’s elections non-partisan.

Is there something else going on, or is this report inaccurate?