Anna Johnson, a reporter for the News and Observer, posted this on social media:
You could be excused for thinking Raleigh is holding city elections now. Every other municipality in Wake County is. And there has been a lot of media reporting about the process and the candidates. Some area cities held primaries so when they have the final election it will result in winning candidates gaining over 50% of the vote. Some allow for runoffs if no candidate does receive over 50% of the vote.
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If you’re a regular reader of Livable Raleigh, you are aware that Raleigh moved its municipal elections to even years in 2022. And, in doing so, they did not implement a primary and also eliminated the possibility of runoffs. So, Raleigh now has “plurality elections” which means the winner does NOT have to receive over 50% of the vote. And, in fact, in the 2022 election, only 2 of the 8 members of City Council did receive over 50% of the vote.
You can read about the pros & cons of Raleigh’s plurality election system in our previous reporting:
Raleigh Elections, when are they?
Raleigh Elections – Plurality vs Majority
Raleigh Elections – What’s the right size for Council?
Ms. Johnson followed up her initial social media post with this:
What this anecdotal story underscores is that although moving local elections to coincide with state and federal elections does gain larger turnout, it doesn’t necessarily gain larger turnout of informed voters.
As we noted above, there has been a lot of media coverage of these local elections and candidates. But, recall how much less attention was paid to local elections in November of 2022 when Raleigh’s City Council election competed with NC Legislature, US Congressional and US Senate elections.
Many voters arrived at the polls for that 2022 election asking poll greeters who is running for Mayor? Or, what district do I live in?
Now add to that competition the upcoming presidential election in 2024 when Raleigh’s next City Council election will be held with no primary and no possibility for runoffs and imagine there will be even less emphasis on Raleigh’s City Council election.
You can say thank you to Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and Councilors Stormie Forte, Jonathan Melton and Corey Branch for this.
They voted to move the elections and change the format to eliminate the requirement for a majority to be declared the winner. And, they did this behind closed doors, with no public engagement and no public vote.
Livable Raleigh Editorial Team
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