Government & politics

Like all 100 North Carolina counties, Stanly County is a political subdivision of the state. It carries out state-mandated duties (property tax listing and collection, public health, social services, elections administration, the jail, register of deeds) and optional local services such as parks, libraries, water and sewer, planning, the airport and emergency services. A board of elected commissioners sets policy and the budget, and appoints a professional county manager who runs day-to-day operations. Main county offices are at Stanly Commons, 1000 N. First Street, and 201 S. Second Street in Albemarle (main line 704-986-3600).

Stanly County belongs to the Centralina Regional Council, the council of governments for the Charlotte region, which coordinates aging services, workforce programs and regional planning.

The board has seven members serving staggered four-year terms: five elected from residency districts and two elected county-wide (at large). A 2023 local act, Session Law 2023-19, reset the staggering so that seats come up in 2024, 2026 and 2028, with some seats temporarily carrying two-year terms. Regular meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room at Stanly Commons; agendas and minutes are posted on the county’s CivicClerk portal.

Source: Stanly County Board of Commissioners page, accessed October 15, 2026. Seats are on the November 3, 2026 ballot; check the county site for results and any changes in officers after December.

Sources: Stanly County government website; Wikipedia (sheriff); NC School of Government summary of SL 2023-19. Officeholders change: confirm with the office before relying on a name.

State courts in Stanly County sit at the Stanly County Courthouse, 201 S. Second Street, Albemarle (main phone 704-986-7000; open weekdays 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.). Under the North Carolina Judicial Branch’s current numbering, Stanly is in Prosecutorial District 28, Superior Court District 28 and District Court District 28, a two-county district it shares with Montgomery County. District Court handles misdemeanors, traffic, small claims, civil cases under the superior-court threshold, juvenile and domestic matters, including divorce, custody and support; Superior Court hears felonies and larger civil cases. Older documents may use earlier district numbers (such as 20A).

The Clerk of Superior Court, elected county-wide, keeps court records and handles estates and special proceedings. Federal cases from Stanly County go to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Courthouse square

Courthouses on two sites

The first courthouse went up in 1842, a year after the county formed. By 1843 the corner now occupied by Courthouse Square Park held the jail, whipping post and stocks, and a second courthouse was built there in 1893. The present courthouse stands where the Freeman Hotel operated from 1847 to 1899. Downtown also gained a new Courthouse Plaza, completed with federal pandemic-recovery (ARPA) funds and opened in June 2024.

1842 first courthouse1893 second courthouse2024 Courthouse Plaza

Landmarks →

Ten municipalities have their own elected councils or boards and mayors, levy their own property taxes and run services such as streets, water, police or zoning inside their limits. Albemarle, the largest, runs its own utilities and a parks department founded in 1963. Two of the ten are recent creations: Red Cross incorporated on August 1, 2002, and Misenheimer on June 26, 2003, partly to have a voice in highway widening plans. Outside town limits, county ordinances and the sheriff apply.

A historical footnote: in 1923 New London elected Mrs. T. V. Staton mayor, which local historians and Wikipedia cite as the first woman to hold municipal office in North Carolina, less than three years after the Nineteenth Amendment.

Sources: N.C. General Assembly representation-by-county tables; Wikipedia, North Carolina’s 8th congressional district. All seats listed except U.S. Senate are on the November 2026 ballot.

Stanly County’s voting history falls into three broad eras. From 1876 through 1900 it voted Democratic in every presidential election. Between 1900 and 1944 it was competitive: Republicans carried it in some years, while Democrats won it in 1912, 1916, with southerner John W. Davis in 1924, and in all three Franklin Roosevelt elections from 1932 to 1940. Since 1944 the county has voted Republican in every presidential race except 1976, when Georgia’s Jimmy Carter carried it by 417 votes. Republican shares have exceeded 67% in every election since 2000.

Source: Wikipedia, Stanly County, North Carolina (presidential results table compiled from Leip’s Atlas and state returns). Large “other” totals coincide with strong national third-party candidacies in 1912 (Theodore Roosevelt), 1948, 1968 (George Wallace) and 1992–1996 (Ross Perot). For official certified returns, consult the N.C. State Board of Elections.