AN ACT to change the manner of election for the lee county board of education and for the city of sanford to partisan.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 852, Session Laws of 1973, as amended by Chapter 204 of the Session Laws of 1977 and Chapter 307 of the 1989 Session Laws, reads as rewritten:
"Section 1. The Lee County Board of Education shall consist of seven members, to be elected by the voters of the county on a partisan basis, who shall serve for a term of four years. The term of office of each member shall begin at the first regular meeting in December in the year of his election, and each member shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.
…
"Section 3. At the time for election of county officers in Lee County in 2014, there shall be elected three members of the Lee County Board of Education. At the time for election of county officers in Lee County in 2016, there shall be elected four members of the Lee County Board of Education. Thereafter, biennially there shall be elected members of the Lee County Board of Education to succeed the members whose terms next expire."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Brunswick, Graham, Lee, New Hanover, Vance, and Washington."
SECTION 3.(a)  The Charter of the City of Sanford, being Chapter 650 of the 1967 Session Laws, as amended by Chapter 541 of the Session Laws of 1971, Chapter 403 of the Session Laws of 1987, and S.L. 1997‑245, is amended by adding a new section to read:
"Sec. 4.2. Manner of Election. The Mayor and City Council are elected on a partisan basis in accordance with Article 24 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes."
SECTION 3.(b)  If approval of this section is required under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, this section is effective January 1, 2014.
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 27th day of June, 2013.

	s/	 Daniel J. Forest
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Thom Tillis
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives