@NCCapitol

Raleigh voters won't go to polls till next year after Cooper lets elections bill become law

Elections for Raleigh's mayor and City Council members will now be held at the same time as statewide and legislative races, after Gov. Roy Cooper allowed a bill affecting elections in dozens of North Carolina cities become law on Friday.

Posted Updated
Election generic, polling place
By
Matthew Burns
, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — Elections for Raleigh's mayor and City Council members will now be held at the same time as statewide and legislative races, after Gov. Roy Cooper allowed a bill affecting elections in dozens of North Carolina cities to become law on Friday.

The U.S. Census Bureau has said detailed population breakdowns from the 2020 census won't be available until September. Some cities need that data to redraw council districts to reflect changes in their population since 2010, and the delayed data wouldn't give them time to do that and allow candidates to file and campaign before elections scheduled for this fall.

So, lawmakers drafted a proposal that would push the local elections to next March, when they would be held along with the statewide primary.

But Raleigh officials said they needed more time to draw their new council districts, given the city's rapid growth over the last decade. They got House members to amend the bill to push their elections back to November 2022 – effectively giving Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and the seven City Council members an extra year in office – to coincide with the 2022 general election.

The final bill also permanently shifts Raleigh city elections to even-numbered years and scraps runoffs, allowing candidates who garner the most votes, but not a majority, to be declared the winners.

Wake County senators blasted the changes, saying the public was given no chance to weigh in on them.

Cooper echoed those concerns Friday, but he said he would allow the bill to become law without his signature.

"While delays to census data caused by the pandemic necessitate changes to local elections, decisions about local elections like these should involve more open discussion and public input," he said in a statement.

In addition to Raleigh, the bill affects the following cities and towns: Ahoskie, Cary, Charlotte, Clinton, Edenton, Elizabeth City, Enfield, Erwin, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Henderson, Hickory, Jacksonville, Kings Mountain, Laurinburg, Lexington, Long View, Lumberton, Mooresville, Mount Olive, New Bern, Plymouth, Princeville, Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Sanford, Siler City, Smithfield, St. Pauls, Statesville, Tarboro, Whiteville and Wilson.

More state trails approved

Also Friday, Cooper signed two bills to authorize adding the East Coast Greenway, which winds through 23 counties from the southeastern corner of the state through the Triangle to the north-central Virginia border, and the Dan River State Trail in Stokes and Rockingham counties to the North Carolina State Parks system.

"It is vital to the health and well-being of our state’s residents that public outdoor spaces are available to everyone, in every community," he said in a statement.

“Over the past 15 months, attendance at our parks and trails has skyrocketed as North Carolinians sought safe and beautiful spaces for outdoor recreation, physical and mental health,” Reid Wilson, secretary of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, said in a statement. “Adding these trails to the N.C. State Parks system expands the opportunities for all North Carolinians to maintain that connection with nature.”

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.