Cary’s Municipal Election Postponed to March 2022

Cary, NC — The typical October/November election cycle will come and go with no municipal elections for 30 North Carolina municipalities this year, including Cary.

Legislation Pushes Cary’s Election to March 2022

On Monday, June 28th, legislation was signed into law through the general assembly to delay some municipal elections for offices elected by district until 2022. Under Session Law 2021-56, more than 30 municipalities across North Carolina will delay elections originally scheduled for this year.

The delay allows these 30 municipalities to revise their electoral districts, if needed, based on new population numbers from the 2020 U.S. Census. According to Executive Director of the NC State Board of Elections, Karen Brinston, towns and cities not affected by the law will have their elections remain on schedule.

Under the new law, the terms of mayors and council members in the affected municipalities will be extended until their successors are elected in 2022.

Currently, Cary’s municipal election is scheduled for March 8, 2022.

Cary Must Redraw its Map, Again

Town Council members are presented two options for voting district maps.

In the latest work session of the Cary Town Council on September 23, 2021, Town Attorney Lisa Glover notified the council that Cary’s municipal election district map would need to be redrawn before the upcoming election.

The council, just a few months ago in their June 24, 2021 council meeting, had already approved with a 5-2 vote a new map. Many who were in favor of the map, in the discussion, found it to be of a “very low likelihood” that the data used for the map would be off by more than a 5% margin of the census data that would become available later.

Now that the census data has been provided, it shows that there was enough of a miscalculation that will require tweaks to be made and a new map will have to be approved by the council to meet the 5% rule.

Two possible maps were presented to the council at the September 23 work session that would address these needed changes.

After a brief discussion, the majority of the council favored option 1 but decided collectively to present both options at a public hearing at their October 21, 2021 Council Meeting before making a vote at their November 9, 2021 meeting.

Where to Find Voting Information for Cary, NC

Want to make sure you’re registered, know your precinct and stay up to date on the upcoming municipal election? Here are a few local resources to help.

• Town of Cary Municipal Election Information Page
• Wake County Board of Elections
• Chatham County Board of Elections

Story and work session photo by Ashley Kairis. Early voting image by Lindsey Chester from 2020 at Cary’s Herb Young Community Center.

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