ASHEVILLE – Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a referendum question asking if they wanted to impose a district election system on the city, but a state senator pushing the move says the vote was "a sham."

Unofficial results show 75.1 percent of voters voted "no" on the measure. It asked whether voters supported a strict, six-district system in which voters of those districts elect only their council representative, while the mayor is elected in a citywide vote.

The City Council voted unanimously July 25 to put the issue on the ballot, but the state legislature had previously forced the issue on Asheville.

The Republican-majority General Assembly passed a law June 29 mandating Asheville be split into six strict districts, with an at-large mayoral election. As the state has ultimate authority over cities, the effect of the referendum remains uncertain.

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Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer argues that Tuesday's referendum was binding, which could create a conundrum at the state level. A previous referendum on control of the water system in Asheville was nonbinding, Manheimer said.

"In this case it is binding, so there is a question about what happens when you have a local (General Assembly) bill that requires districts, but you have a vote, using a statutory process locally, that says, 'We don’t want districts,'" Manheimer said.

The state law said the city must create a six-district system by Nov. 1, or the state will do it. That deadline has passed, so Asheville is technically in violation of the bill.

“Unfortunately, the city council doesn’t seem to understand what most ordinary citizens do — that following the law isn’t optional," State Sen. Chuck Edwards said in a press release. "For months, they have blatantly ignored the law, then organized and helped defeat a referendum in an attempt to preserve the status quo system from which they personally benefit."

Edwards also contends the city ignored their own poll showing "a clear majority of respondents agree single-member districts are a good way to ensure differing political views in Asheville have equal representation on city council.

"And despite the fact that they’ve wasted taxpayers’ time and money on a sham of an election that they knew would attract such a low turnout, it still does not change the law," Edwards said.

Edwards also pointed out that Asheville is one of just two of the state's largest 15 cities that still have not changed their election charters to a district system.

Manheimer said it's clear Asheville voters do not want the state-mandated system. On Tuesday, 11,686 voters rejected the measure, while 3,872 voted for it.

"I think Asheville once again has sent a message to the legislature about how they feel about the legislature imposing their will on us,” Manheimer said. "That’s one of the issues we can actually determine on our own, and so we don’t need the legislature deciding how we’re going to elect representation in our city, and I think the voters are sending that message."

The General Assembly has said previously it will institute the changes in its 2018 session.

Edwards, a Republican state legislator from Hendersonville who represents a sliver of South Asheville, was the chief proponent of the law.

Several voters said Tuesday they felt the state was overreaching.

West Asheville resident Jennifer Keeney said she voted no on the referendum question, “Because I don’t feel like that is what Asheville is asking for, rather it’s something the state is trying to impose.”

Lewis Lankford, who started a bakery with business partners in West Asheville before selling it more than two years ago, said the state is simply bullying Asheville.

"The legislature is trying to do the same thing to city of Asheville that it did to the rest of North Carolina, which is to determine (which) voters get to vote for who, rather than just letting the voters pick,” said Lankford, 48. “I’m against the gerrymandering.”

But some residents who favored the referendum believed Asheville needs a push to make districts happen, because it's content with a system that regularly produces an all-progressive council.

"I don’t think the City Council is willing to address the issue,” said West Asheville resident Mary Ann Braine, who voted yes on the referendum. "I think it’s going to take the state to force them to do it. They’ve been fighting the issue all the way, and I think they’ll continue to fight it.”

Braine, who owns her own bookkeeping business, feels that without districts the only choices for council will be a liberal progressive point of view. Also, various areas of the city will not be represented, she said.

Haw Creek resident Rob Carroll, a retired architect, voted yes on the referendum question, but he really did not like what was offered on the ballot. Instead of six districts elected only by those districts' residents and an at-large mayoral election, Carroll prefers a mix of at-large seats and a few district-only elections.

He and his wife, Helen Carroll, who is retired from the food service industry, moved to Asheville two years ago from Washington, D.C., where they had lived for 31 years. Helen voted no on the referendum for the same reason Rob voted yes — she wanted to see more at-large districts, as D.C. has.

But Rob Carroll suspects the whole move to include the referendum on the ballot was really just a strategic move for the city to demonstrate public disapproval of the state's plan.

"This referendum is only being done so big brother in Raleigh doesn’t make them do it," Carroll said. "So we’re kind of doing it for the wrong reasons.”

South Asheville residents particularly have felt under-represented on council, but on Tuesday some residents said they didn't want the district system forced on them.

Darren Poupore, an 18-year resident of South Asheville, said while he wants the area to have a voice in city government, he's against a state law that would put the city under a districts-based system. Poupore said he'd rather be able to vote for all seats.

David Stanley also wants a candidate from the city's south side to address the area's traffic and development issues. He voted on Tuesday for a slate of candidates that included South Asheville resident Vijay Kapoor, the top vote-getter.

But Stanley's not a supporter of the districts campaign, raising concerns over potential gerrymandering and a mandate handed down by state Republicans.

On the other side of the issue, Richard Larson also raised issues about development and South Asheville representation, but he's in support of districts. His hometown of Chicago has local wards, Larson said.

In Haw Creek, Melvin Hines and his wife, Naomi, said they voted no on the referendum, mainly because Asheville is doing so well with the current system. To Melvin Hines, a retired school associate superintendent, the whole issue smacks of state government overreach, and imposition of districts would make council members too concerned with small portions of the city.

"The state will tell you they’re so interested in keeping things local and having local decision, but once they get into office they want to make everything state (controlled)," Melvin Hines said.

Staff writers Joel Burgess and Jennifer Bowman contributed to this report.