Candidates file for Wake County school board, despite election uncertainty

With Friday’s U.S. Court of Appeals ruling putting the Wake County school board race up in the air, 18 candidates still met Friday’s filing deadline.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the election maps adopted in 2013 and 2015 by the state legislature for Wake school board and commissioners are unconstitutional. The panel decided 2-1 that the maps can’t be used this November.

Nine seats were scheduled to be on the Nov. 8 ballot. Here’s how the election would have gone, if the maps had been allowed. Candidates might need to refile if new election maps approved by the General Assembly are used this fall.

Three candidates would have run unopposed: Don Mial in District A, former board member Roxie Cash in District 2 and incumbent Christine Kushner in District 5.

In District 1, school board Chair Tom Benton would have run against Vice Chair Monika Johnson-Hostler in a five-person race that included Donald Agee, Mary Beth Ainsworth and Sheila Ellis.

In District 3, former board member Beverley Clark would have run against James McLuckie.

In District 4, board member Keith Sutton would have run against Heather Elliott.

In District 6, board member Jim Martin would have opposed by Gil Pagan.

In District 7, Peter Hochstaetter would have run against fellow political newcomer Gary Lewis.

In District B, board member Bill Fletcher would have been challenged by Mark Ivey.

Faith ID worries

Over 6,000 people in North Carolina now have a Faith ID card, which provides identification for people, including some illegal immigrants, who can’t get driver’s licenses or other photo IDs.

El Centro Hispano of Durham registered 869 people for the card in its first three drives.

At the latest drive on June 25, however, the crowd at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill was much smaller than at the previous drives. Organizers blamed that on new legislation that would punish local governments that accept the Faith ID or do not comply with state immigration laws.

“What’s happening politically has sent fear waves” through the community, said Maria Palmer, a Chapel Hill Town Council member. “We have a third of the people who should be here.”

The bill would require clerks of court to report anyone who is not able to serve jury duty because they may not be a U.S. citizen. It also would trigger an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office when anyone reports the law may have been violated.

On Saturday, state Rep. Graig Meyer, a Chapel Hill Democrat, and Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle and Alderman Damon Seils signed up for Faith ID cards to show solidarity.

“I know that today it is very scary in North Carolina to make your voice heard,” Meyer told the crowd through an interpreter. “But I tell my colleagues they need to think ahead, because only 10 years from now in North Carolina, every month there will be 20,000 Latinos who will be turning 18 and able to vote.”

“Even though there are some politicians who don’t realize our state is your state, soon they will have to recognize that North Carolina is for all of us,” he said.

Political event

The Wake Democratic Men’s Club will meet Monday, July 11, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Downtown, 320 Hillsborough St., Raleigh. The program will feature N.C. Senate candidates from Wake County: Sen. Dan Blue Jr. (District 14), Laurel Deegan-Fricke (District 15), Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (District 16), Susan Evans (District 17) and Gil Johnson (District 18).

Dinner is at 6:30 p.m., and the program is at 7 p.m. Dinner reservations should be made by Friday, July 8, by emailing WakeDMC@mail.com. Dinner is $20 for members and $23 for non-members.

Compiled by staff writers T. Keung Hui and Mark Schultz

This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Candidates file for Wake County school board, despite election uncertainty."