Nonpartisan vs. Partisan Elections

North Carolina law permits cities, towns, and villages to use either partisan elections or any one of three versions of nonpartisan elections.  In partisan elections, candidates run as nominees of specific political parties or as independents.  Each political party selects its nominees in primary elections restricted to voters registered as affiliated with that political party.  In nonpartisan elections, the candidates’ party affiliation is not listed on the ballot and the political parties generally don’t provide support for the candidates.  This form of election emerged during the Progressive Era as a way to remove politics from city administration (Davidson and Fraga, 1988).