Under the current set-up, the Winston-Salem City Council has eight members and a non-voting, but heavily influential, mayor. Whether that will remain true after Mayor Allen Joines decides to hang ‘em up remains to be seen.

Each of the eight represents a different ward aligned like the points of a compass — East, Northwest, Southeast, South etc. — and residents of those wards vote only for their council members, who serve four-year terms.

Under the Conrad-Lambeth gerrymander, the number of wards would be reduced to five and three council members would be elected at-large — the theory being that such a set-up would be more likely to result in greater Republican influence in local elections.

Only one of the eight, the eminently reasonable Bob Clark of the West Ward, is a Republican.

Problem is, if approved, the proposal would rope three black council members, all Democrats and women, into one district.

“Everyone knows African-American women are going to vote and will vote Democratic,” said one of the three, D.D. Adams of the North Ward.

For the dozen or so of you wonks and political nerds who follow closely such developments — that’d be you, Dan Besse — none of this should have come as a shock.