Raleigh Group Petitioning to Get Council Election Changes on Fall Ballots

It’s Thursday, May 16.

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Good morning, readers. 

Last week, Raleigh’s city council voted 5-2 to extend council members’ terms from two years to four-year staggered terms starting with the 2026 election cycle and tabled another resolution to add three district seats. 

The council had the option to put both proposals before voters in a referendum this fall but decided not to. 

Now, the neighborhood activist group Livable Raleigh is working to force the issue. If the group can gather 5,000 residents’ signatures on two petitions—one for four-year staggered terms and one for adding districts—within 30 days of May 7, the proposals will go before voters. 

“[The council] had assured the public they would NOT do this on their own, but would instead put the question to the voters at the upcoming election this November,” reads a Livable Raleigh press release announcing the petition drive. “When citizens learned of this arrogant about-face, many indicated they wanted to take action.” (In an interview with the News & Observer, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin disputed the group’s characterization of the council’s decision-making process.) 

Livable Raleigh says it is not taking an official position on either issue but the group thinks “it is imperative that these decisions be made by the voters.” It also seems supportive of adding districts, noting that the city has had five districts since the 1970s. The city’s population has nearly quadrupled since then, and the city has grown from 45 square miles to 211. 

The Raleigh City Council drew criticism in 2021 for, in closed session and without public input, voting to ask the state legislature to move council elections to even-numbered years, giving then-council members an additional year in office. And Livable Raleigh has experience with gathering signatures. Also in 2021, it launched an unsuccessful effort to recall Mayor Baldwin. 

While the question of adding three districts to the city council hasn’t had much study, a city-commissioned group recommended switching from two-year to four-year staggered terms in 2021, and some current council members say they are in favor of the change. Many of Raleigh’s peer cities, including Durham, Asheville, and Greensboro, elect members for four-year terms.

But recent surveys of Raleigh residents found that the majority of respondents do not support council members serving four-year terms and do support adding districts to the council. 

Have a good Thursday.

—Jane

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