There are two referenda on the ballots for this year’s election in the Triad. What are they?

Featured photo: A voter casts their vote on March 5, 2024 for Primary Election Day. (photo by Maaroupi Sani)

In the Triad, voters could see two ballot referenda when they go to cast their votes this year, depending on which county they live in. So what are they?

What is a ballot referendum?

According to the NC State Board of Elections, a ballot referendum is “any question, issue, or act referred to a vote of the people by the General Assembly, a local government, or a petition from voters as authorized by law. A referendum includes constitutional amendments and bond issues.”

This year, there is a statewide referendum and one referendum for Guilford County residents.

Statewide: Constitutional Amendment (FOR or AGAINST)

Wording: Constitutional amendment to provide that only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age and otherwise possessing the qualifications for voting shall be entitled to vote at any election in this State.

This amendment to the state Constitution would change wording to note that only a citizen of the US who is at least 18 years old shall be entitled to vote at any election. Critics of the amendment have noted that protections already exist barring anyone who is not a citizen from voting. The bill, HB1074, was a Republican-backed measure that would replace the part of the Constitution that states that “every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized” is entitled to vote. Several human-rights and immigrant-rights groups including the NC Justice Center, Democracy NC and El Pueblo have spoken out against the amendment.

“Those who proposed this constitutional reform based this decision on anti-immigrant rhetoric, they insinuate without any evidence that immigrants can be a threat to the integrity of the electoral process,” El Pueblo states. 

The referenda is similar to several other amendments on the ballots in other states including ones in Wisconsin and South Carolina. 

A vote FOR would mean changing the language. A vote AGAINST would mean keeping the language as it is now.

Guilford County: Local Sales and Use Tax (FOR or AGAINST)

Wording: Local sales and use tax at the rate of one-quarter percent (0.25%) in addition to all other State and local sales and use taxes.

While the text of the referendum does not state this, the proposed .25 percent, or quarter-cent sales tax increase, was authorized by county commissioners earlier this year to be used to increase teacher pay and pay for school staff.

A vote FOR would increase the tax rate to support teacher and school staff pay. A vote AGAINST would keep the tax rate the same. 

During a candidate forum in September, both Republican and Democratic candidates for Guilford County School Board noted that they supported the sales-tax increase.