Senate could vote Monday to let Raleigh postpone election and give leaders extra year
This story was updated June 14, 2021, to report the pending state Senate vote.
The state Senate could vote Monday on legislation that would let Raleigh leaders push back their upcoming election, effectively extending their terms in office an extra year.
And it’s not just the next election. A majority of Raleigh City Council members want the city’s municipal elections to remain in even-number years after 2022.
“The decision was made based on legal issues brought forward by the city attorney,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin told The News & Observer in a text message.
“This will create certainty, allow us to redraw our districts with public input and plan our parks bond, hear from our appointed study group and dramatically improve voter turnout,” Baldwin said. “It was a difficult decision but is the only one that brings certainty to the process.”
N.C. Rep. Allison Dahle submitted an amendment to Senate Bill 722. The bill has already passed the N.C. House with the amendment and could be revoted on by the Senate Monday night.
The City Council originally asked state lawmakers for a local bill, which would apply to one geographic region of the state. Senate Bill 722 pushes back 2021 district elections until March 2022 for most cities with district elections, but the section pertaining to Raleigh would push back the election until fall 2022.
The city attorney presented a report to the council during its virtual meeting last week..
The chances of holding the city’s election on Oct. 5 as originally planned were slim after the U.S. Census Bureau announced it wouldn’t be releasing districting data until the end of September.
“The dilemma is we can’t hold a constitutional election unless we move the [district] lines,” said City Attorney Robin Tatum told the council. “We can’t move the lines without the data. We don’t have that data.”
A vote did not occur during Tuesday’s council work session, and The N&O has not been able to determine when the council made the decision Baldwin noted in her text message.
Council member David Cox said he wished to clarify his position, stating at the meeting that he would like to see the city’s 2021 election be moved to the 2022 primary.
“When we were elected in 2019, the expectation [was] we would serve a two-year term,” he said. “And I kind of view that as a social contract with the public. And I am concerned about extending our term an entire year.”
The mayor said that was contrary to his previous position.
“The consensus of the majority of council is to move forward with the local bill,” Tatum said. “Mr. Cox’s change in his position does not change the position of council.”
The News & Observer emailed Tatum, asking when that consensus was reached and why a vote was not taken in open session. A response had not been received as of 8 a.m. Monday.
Raleigh elections
Five of the eight Raleigh City Council seats are elected by district while the other three seats, including the mayor, are elected by the entire city. The districts are required to be redrawn based on population data normally released in March by the Census.
State law requires cities that use districts to correct population imbalances before candidate filing, which would begin July 26.
A local bill would give Raleigh a custom fix, Tatum said. A local bill has already been approved by the legislature for the city of Mount Airy.
The local bill that Raleigh originally sought would also change the type of election from a nonpartisan election and runoff to a nonpartisan plurality. The runoff method requires candidates receive a majority of votes during an election to avoid a possible runoff. Those changes are included in SB 722.
And that means, with no runoff needed, Raleigh’s elections would be held in November instead of October.
The other option the city could consider is a statewide fix. The state Senate voted to let municipalities postpone their 2021 elections due to the Census delay until the March 2022 primary with Senate Bill 722.
In its current form, the city would have to draft its new district by Dec. 17. That may be enough time for some smaller municipalities but Raleigh would likely need longer to draft its new districts, Tatum said.
“We don’t know what it’s going to look like when it is ultimately passed,” Tatum said.
Ultimately, the city got a hybrid of the two options: a local fix as an amendment in a statewide bill.
Voter turnout
All eight seats on the Raleigh City Council would be up at the same time and remain two-year terms. However, a council committee is studying whether those things should change. The committee has not made formal recommendations to the council.
Odd years are typically when municipal elections are held, most of which are nonpartisan and have been criticized for their low turnout.
Raleigh’s voter turnout for the 2019 election was 13%, according to the N.C. Board of Elections.
If the city’s elections are moved to even years, City Council races would remain nonpartisan but appear on the same ballot as mostly partisan races with candidates for county, state and federal offices.
Raleigh has 317,212 eligible voters as of May 31.
Other Wake County towns
Cary and Raleigh are the only Wake County cities that elect at least some council members by district.
That means most other Wake County towns would be able to proceed with their elections as scheduled
Cary, which gained 40,000 residents since the last redistricting in 2010, hired consultants with a local redistricting service to start redrawing its districts with a set of guiding principles: keeping neighborhoods together, making sure the districts are the same size and using election precincts as guides.
The Town Council could vote on those new maps during its June 24 meeting.
Cary is also the only other Wake County town that uses the runoff method for election and has historically joined Raleigh in holding elections in October.
The other Wake County municipalities use the nonpartisan plurality method of elections.
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 4:44 PM.
