Raleigh Voting Postponed to 2022
WEB EXCLUSIVE Raleigh municipal elections will now take place in 2022, giving city council members and the mayor one additional year in office.
Raleigh’s municipal election will now take place Nov. 8, 2022—rather than fall 2021—as a result of the passing of State Bill 722, which will become a law without Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature. Cooper did not sign off on the bill, noting a need for more open discussion and public input on the topic before becoming a law.
Raleigh is among more than 30 other municipalities across the state of North Carolina to be affected by the bill. Under the new law, mayors and council members, including Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, will continue in their roles until successors are elected in 2022—giving them a whole extra year in office.
At the request of Raleigh City Council, an amendment was also added to the bill that permanently moves Raleigh’s municipal election to even years (think: 2022, 2024), similar to presidential elections, and changes the election method to plurality, rather than runoff.
The election postponement was caused by delays in getting the U.S. Census Bureau data (largely caused by the pandemic). Because cities and towns with district-specific races, such as Raleigh, couldn’t redraw their districts without census data, elections were postponed.