Henderson officials are waiting to learn results of a meeting today in Raleigh that could change the date of the 2021 municipal elections from the current date of Tuesday, Oct. 5.
Senate Bill 722 hasn’t passed into law yet, but it proposes that municipalities must consider data from the 2020 U.S. Census to before scheduling elections, according to Vance County’s Board of Elections Director Faye M. Gill.
Gill told WIZS News Monday that four seats on the Henderson City Council are up for election in 2021.
The proposed bill was scheduled to be discussed Monday afternoon in a meeting of the Rules and Operations State Senate Committee. If it passes into law, municipalities must use 2020 Census data to “review and revise its electoral districts” before holding elections.
Gill said at-large seats for Wards 1 and 2, currently held by council members Sara Coffey and William Burnette, respectively, are up for election in 2021, as well as Ward seats 3 and 4, held by Gary Daeke and Ola Thorp-Cooper, respectively.
Changes in district lines send a ripple effect through elections processes, and Gill said since candidates must reside in the district they represent, it will be important to know whether district lines have changed. “It just depends on where the lines are drawn,” she said. The City Council would determine that the electoral districts accurately reflect the Census data, and the board of elections would see the process through.
Gill’s main concern is “whoever runs is running in the correct ward,” and voters are voting in the correct ward, too.
As it stands now, filing for the 2021 City of Henderson election will begin on Monday, July 26, 2021 at 12 noon and will end on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021 at 12 noon. Filing fee is $10.
Municipal elections are set for Tuesday, Oct. 5. If necessary, a runoff date is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 2.
If the bill becomes law, the filing dates and the election dates would be pushed back to give council time to verify electoral districts are accurate. Municipalities would have until mid-November to do so.
“It hasn’t passed yet,” Gill said of Senate Bill 722. “We’ve not been told to do anything yet,” she said.