Shea Neville, the third-place finisher in the recent election for school board district 4B, announced Thursday he’s supporting candidate Natalie Beyer when the county holds a runoff for the seat on June 22.
Beyer is facing two-term incumbent school board member Steve Martin. Beyer requested the runoff on May 5, the day after the school board elections, in which Martin earned just under 37 percent of the votes and Beyer finished with 34 percent. In order to win the seat, one candidate must have earned “substantial plurality,” or 40 percent of the vote, so Beyer had the option to request a rematch.
Neville finished third, securing 22 percent of the votes. Wayne Allsbrook finished last with 6 percent of the votes.
From Neville’s statement of support for Beyer:
[Natalie] has already emerged as a dedicated champion for students and is results oriented. Natalie has proven her willingness to serve a diverse population. Natalie will be the catalyst to bring the School Board back to the community and make sure that the voices of parents, students and teachers are heard.
About 13 percent of Durham’s registered voters, or about 21,000 people, turned out to vote on May 4, with 5,709 votes cast in the school board’s District 4B race. Historically, turnout for school board runoff elections has been, of course, low when compared to general elections. About 7,800 people (about 5 percent of registered voters) voting in the June 2008 runoff between Jonathan Alston and victor Leigh Bordley.
Early voting for the runoff begins Thursday, June 3. Note that some of the polling places will change for the June 22 voting event. Details can be found here.
In addition to some voters casting ballots in the school board runoff, registered Democrats, or those unaffiliated voters who choose a Democratic ballot, will also vote in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate between candidates Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham.
