Vote 2024
You need a valid Photo ID no matter how you vote. Early in person, on election day or by mail
Livable Raleigh wants to provide information and links to information that will make it easy to vote in 2024.
PHOTO ID REQUIREMENTS
VOTING BY MAIL
Yes, you still need a Photo ID, you need 2 verification signatures or a notary and it MUST arrive by 7:30pm on Election Day. There is NO GRACE PERIOD anymore.
IMPORTANT 2024 DATES
- Early Voting – October 17 to November 2, 2024
- Dates & Locations here: Wake County Early Voting Schedule
- 1,280 Raleigh residents live in Durham Co: Durham County Early Voting Schedule
- Election Day – Nov 5, 2024
- Find your Election Day polling location (it may be different from your early voting site)
ADDITIONAL VOTING RESOURCES
- Livable Raleigh City Council Election – Coming Soon
- NC.GOV
- Wake County Board of Elections
- NC Voter Guide
- VOTE411 – League of Women Voters
- Vote Local Raleigh
WHY IS THIS MAYOR and COUNCIL ELECTION DIFFERENT?
The election of Raleigh’s Mayor and City Council are now operating on a Pluralty System instead of a Majority System.
- In a Majority System, a candidate must receive more votes than all other candidates combined to win.
- In a Plurality System, a candidate only has to receive more votes than any other candidate to be elected. This means races where there are more than 2 candidates may result in the election of a candidate who has received only a minority of votes cast. So if there are 3 candidates, the winner could be determined by only 33.3% of votes cast. In fact in 2022, only 2 of the 8 councilors were elected with over 50% of the vote.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
Raleigh City Council Elections were significantly changed by a decision made in secret by the previous City Council in 2021. There was no notice given to the public that major changes were being considered and no opportunity for input from the public. These changes included:
- Moving the Mayor and Council Elections from October 2021 to November 2022. The additional year in office allowed the Mayor and City Council to serve for an extra year without the public voting for them to have the extra time.
- Eliminating Run-off Elections due to changing the rules of the election to Plurality Voting, which does not require a majority to win.
- Holding all future Raleigh City Elections in November of even years.
It is important to note that while many other municipalities use a Plurality System, this decision was made in secret and has the potential to impact the outcomes of the popular vote in Raleigh.
The current City Council recently made some changes of their own. Starting in 2026 the mayor and councilors will be elected to 4 year terms of office instead of the 2 year terms they are elected to now. This change will come with the implementation of primaries in the spring with only the top 2 vote getters advancing to the general election in each race and eliminating the plurality format and brining back majority elections.
But, once again, the City Council implemented this change on their own after the voters told them in two different polls (here and here) they don’t want the council to have 4 year terms and after having assured the public for over a year they would put the question to the people with a referendum on the ballot this November and let the voters decide.