As Triangle residents go to the polls today, the consequences of growth will be the dominant issue on many voters' minds and a major fault line on a lot of local ballots.

In political campaigns across the region, candidates have divided themselves into camps favoring either sustained suburban expansion or a rollback of policies they deem too pro-development.

Growth is the top issue in many of the 10 Wake County towns with elections today, as it was the key issue in municipal elections last month in Raleigh and Cary.

In October, Cary voters turned out the town's pro-growth mayor in favor of a challenger who called for more stringent controls on development. Two slow-growth advocates won council seats in Raleigh by defeating incumbents whom they painted as being too cozy with developers.

"The voters spoke loud and clear that growth matters," said Karen Rindge, the chairman of WakeUp Wake County, an advocacy group focused on growth issues.

"They want leaders who are going to address these issues, who are going to talk about how we are going to pay for growth, who are going to look at where our water supply is going to come from, how we're going to build the schools for a population that is expected to double in the next 20 years," she said.

An example of how the growth issue is playing out in contests that will be decided today is the race for two council seats in the southwestern Wake town of Holly Springs, where officials regularly tout their status as North Carolina's fastest-growing municipality.

Long-serving incumbent Parrish "Ham" Womble has been both attacked and lauded after making a motion at a recent town meeting asking for information about what it would take to impose a one-year moratorium on residential development.

In Pittsboro, challengers for mayor and town council have made planned growth the central theme of their campaigns. In Carrboro, anger about an involuntary annexation that took effect last year motivates a mayoral candidate and three challengers for alderman. Voters in Chatham and Johnson counties will consider ballot referendums proposing a new land transfer tax to raise money for building schools and roads.

Some exceptions

But there are local races where growth is either not the lead issue or is not stirring as much controversy as it is elsewhere.

In Rolesville, for example, the three candidates for two seats on the town board all favor continued expansion. Mayor Pro Tem Frank Eagles, who has consistently voted to bring more residential development to the town, is running unopposed for mayor.

In Durham, the hotly contested race for mayor between incumbent Bill Bell and challenger Thomas Stith III has turned largely on whether the city government can do more to fight crime and who should share responsibility for the botched handling of the Duke lacrosse case.

Growth may not be center stage is those contests, but it is on the minds of Triangle voters. In a poll of 625 registered voters from Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnson counties conducted last month for The News & Observer, 61 percent of respondents named either growth and sprawl or traffic congestion and roads as the most important issue facing the Triangle today.

In addition, 11 percent listed education and schools, another issue affected heavily by growth. In contrast, traditional voter concerns -- the economy, crime and taxes -- all polled in the single digits.

In a referendum likely to be watched closely by its larger neighbors, Chatham County voters will weigh in on a land transfer tax. The tax went on the ballot despite objections from some county board members who argued it would have a better chance of passing in the spring. State legislators approved a law this year that allows counties to impose a 0.4 percent tax on real estate sales, but only if voters first approve the measure in a referendum.

The N.C. Association of Realtors, which failed to prevent the transfer tax from gaining legislative approval, is now focusing efforts to stop the tax in the individual counties holding the first public referendums.

The statewide Realtors' group helped form the Chatham Coalition for Home Ownership, a well-financed organization opposed to the measure. Another anti-tax group, calling itself No On Transfer Fee Resolution Committee, has also been raising money to campaign against the Chatham referendum.

Growth is also a big issue in Johnston County, where most towns are expanding their planning jurisdictions so they can have greater control over growth near their borders. Selma and Smithfield are among the towns that have been using involuntary annexation to add to their tax bases.

"Areas ... need to be in corporate limits so future growth can be realized," said Selma's mayor, Charles Hester, who faces a challenge today from William Overby.

(Staff writers Leah Friedman, Peggy Lim and Emily Matchar contributed to this report.)