Election Reforms for Raleigh City Council

It’s Election Season in NC as primaries are underway right now!

(But, not for Raleigh City Council)

In March City Council is going to hear a report from staff about the possibilities for reforming the city’s election process.

In 2021, the previous city council changed Raleigh’s elections from the fall of odd years to the fall of even years. They did this behind closed doors without any input from residents. This resulted in a HUGE change to our elections. Raleigh now has a “plurality” election, meaning no candidate has to receive a majority vote to win and there is no option for a run-off election. In fact in the 2022 election only 2 of the 8 current members of City Council did receive over 50% of the vote in their elections. Read about it here: Raleigh Elections 2022

The City Council has asked the people of Raleigh twice now for their opinion on council moving to four-year terms and both times the people have said no. We’ve reported this before here: What part of NO don’t you get?

Livable Raleigh believes the City Council should do what the people told them they want.

But, if they are hell-bent on moving to four-year terms despite the views of the people, it should ONLY be done if they implement a nonpartisan primary to go with it, thus getting rid of the current “plurality” election format and ensuring we elect the members of City Council by majority vote.

If you’re the kind of reader who wants more information, we’ve detailed it all out below:

Primaries – Partisan vs Nonpartisan

What’s the difference?

A nonpartisan primary includes all candidates without regard to party afilliation. The top two vote getters move on to the general election in November. This means there will be only 2 candidates and the winner will be guaranteed to get over 50% of the vote.

A partisan primary involves running a separate primary for each party. If more than two parties run primaries, this would result in more than two candidates in the general election. In this case, the general election could still result in a winner with less than 50% of the vote and there is no opportunity for a runoff after a November election.

Can we fix this while keeping two-year terms?

Not in any practical way.

Returning to odd year elections would allow for a runoff if no candidate receives a majority

This would require action from the state legislature to move our elections back. And it is unlikely that our current council is interested in moving back. They are happy with the larger turnout in even years, even though that likely results in more low-information voters. Running municipal elections during state and/or national elections also presents challenges for candidates who need to raise more money to compete for air time and campaign staff against the larger, more well-financed campaigns.

Implement non-partisan primaries to whittle the field to only 2 candidates

Forcing candidates to run in BOTH a primary and a general election every two years seems excessive and will not likely have any support from current councilors.

Implement Ranked Choice Voting

This requires legislative action from the state and the current Republican majority is not likely to entertain it. They are skeptical of RCV because they believe it favors Democrats.

What about increasing the size of Council?

City Council has had 8 members since the 1970s

No matter what decision is made about term length, the size of City Council needs to increase for better representation.

Size of Council

Currently Raleigh’s City Council includes eight members – the Mayor, two at-large seats, and five district seats. The number of council seats was last increased in the 1970s. Raleigh’s population has increased from about 122,000 in 1970 to about 500,000 today. Increasing council size makes sense. With our current population, each District Councilor represents about 100,000 residents. If we added three more district seats, they would represent about 62,500.

At-Large or District?

Per the above, three council members currently are elected at-large – the Mayor and two at-large seats. Five members are elected from districts. It is much more expensive and time-consuming to run at-large, which has an impact on candidate diversity. Often at-large council members find it more difficult to get “close” to their constituents, compared with district councilors.

Both times the city has asked for resident input the answer has come back preferring adding more districts as opposed to adding more at-large seats.

Four-Year Terms, how does that work?

Four-year terms can be “staggered” so half of the council is elected every two years.

Four-year terms can be run using a stagger system that elects half of the council every two years. This method allows for more accountability to voters allowing voters to express their opinion of the direction of the council every two years. It also encourages some continuity because we would not replace the entire council at each election.

The mayor can be kept on a two-year term for more accountability. Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Fuquay-Varina elect their mayors to a two-year term, but councilors to four-year terms.

We recommend running 4-year staggered term elections while keeping the mayor at a two-year term

Election Cycle 1 –
Mayor
At-Large Rep 1
4 Districts (they should not all be in the same area of the city)

Election Cycle 2 –
Mayor
At-Large Rep 2
The other 4 Districts

This allows for the most accountability to the voters.
It also eliminates the “vote for 2” process we currently use to elect At-Large councilors and will ensure they receive a majority of the vote as well.

Livable Raleigh Editorial Team

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