2023 election guide: Find where to vote and research CMS bond, candidates on your ballot

Municipal elections across North Carolina will be Tuesday.

All voters in Mecklenburg County will be able to participate in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ record $2.5 billion bond referendum, which would pay for 30 projects across the district, and the school board at large race, which features 14 candidates competing for three spots. Two of three incumbents — Jennifer De La Jara and Elyse Dashew — chose not to run for reelection.

Otherwise, voters can cast a ballot in city council or town board elections for the municipality where they live. People who do not live in a city’s official limits won’t have a city or town board election on their ballots.

When and where to vote

Early voting ended Saturday, with 39,432 ballots cast.

While voters could cast ballots at any early voting location, they must cast a ballot at their polling location on Election Day.

Precincts across the county will open Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Any voter in line at their assigned polling place at 7:30 p.m. will be able to vote, the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections says. Find your polling location by using the N.C. State Board of Elections search tool at vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup.

The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections also provides a full list of Election Day voting locations here.

The voter registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election was Oct. 13. Same-day registration was allowed during early voting, but most voters are not eligible for same-day registration on Election Day.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bond vote

Go here for a full list of projects included in the $2.5 billion bond referendum. Projects range from building entirely new schools to adding or replacing individual buildings. The largest portion of the 30 projects are in the CMS Board of Education’s District 2, which is mostly in west Charlotte.

One of the biggest projects would give Harding University High School a new, three-story building that will connect to some others already on campus. Principal Glen Starnes said the replacement is long-desired and that students often ask him, “Mr. Starnes, why don’t we have what xyz school has.” His typical answer: “We will one day.” Go here to read more about how the bond’s approval would tell Harding students “they are worth it.”

Members of the African American Faith Alliance and African American Clergy Coalition are advocating for people to vote “no” on the bond referendum. They say recent Mecklenburg property revaluations resulted in tax hikes that disproportionately impacted Black and brown communities in the crescent of lower-income communities in the north, east and west of the city. The bond’s approval would increase the tax burden on already stressed taxpayers, they say. But their proposed alternative isn’t quite right, according to Mecklenburg County’s chief financial officer. Read more about that here.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education

Click on the links below to read answers to The Charlotte Observer’s candidate questionnaire for school board. Voters will be able to pick up to three candidates on their ballot.

The Observer wasn’t able to reach or hasn’t received a response from three candidates.

Annette Albright | Peggy A. Capehart | Claire Covington | Bill Fountain | Juanrique Hall | Omar Harris | Shamaiye Haynes | Michael Johnson | Brian Kasher | Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel | Liz Monterrey | Lenora Shipp (incumbent) | Clara Kennedy Witherspoon | Monty Witherspoon

We rounded up candidate answers on how CMS can improve student performance in this story.

Charlotte City Council

All voters in Charlotte can vote for a mayoral candidate and four at-large City Council candidates. There are also City Council races in Districts 3 and 6. City Council incumbents in Districts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 are unopposed in the general election.

The most-closely watched City Council race on the general election ballot is in District 6. Read more here about six differences between the two District 6 candidates locked in a rematch.

Click on the links below to view answers from candidates who’ve responded to the Observer’s survey.

Charlotte mayor: Misun Kim (R) | Vi Lyles (D, incumbent) | Rob Yates (L)

At-large seats: Dimple Ajmera (D, incumbent) | Steven J. DiFiore II (L) | James “Smuggie” Mitchell (D, incumbent) | LaWana Slack-Mayfield (D, incumbent) | Victoria Watlington (D)

District 3: James H. Bowers (R) | Tiawana Brown (D)

District 6: Tariq Bokhari (R, incumbent) | Stephanie Hand (D)

Charlotte Observer endorsements

The Charlotte Observer editorial board made endorsements in the CMS Board of Education and Charlotte City Council races. It also made a recommendation in the $2.5 billion bond referendum question.

While one incumbent is seeking reelection, the Observer endorsed three challengers in the CMS school board at-large race. Read the full endorsements here.

Read the full slate of Charlotte City Council endorsements here.

And the Observer’s editorial board recommended voters say “yes” to the bond referendum. Read more here about why the editorial board said, “Yes, $2.5 billion is a whole lot of money, but the cost of blocking it is too high.”

The editorial board is composed of staffers that include N.C. Opinion Editor Peter St. Onge, Observer Executive Editor Rana Cash and Deputy NC Opinion Editor Paige Masten.

Huntersville Board of Commissioners, mayor

Huntersville voters can pick one person for mayor and up to four people for Board of Commissioners seats.

Commissioner candidate Amber Kovacs did not respond to the Observer’s survey. Commissioner candidate Mike DeVoney could not be reached for comment.

Huntersville mayor: Dan Boone | Christy Clark | Derek Partee

Huntersville commissioner: Alisia Bergsman | Amanda Dumas | Frank Gammon | Jennifer Hunt | Matt Jones | Rob Kidwell | Justin Moore | John O’Neill | Edwin Quarles | LaToya Rivers | Eric Rowell | Anna Rubin | Nick Walsh | Jamie Wideman

Voters in Huntersville will also decide whether to approve $50 million in bonds for transportation projects and $8 million for parks and recreation.

Candidates for Cornelius Board of Commissioners, mayor

Cornelius voters can pick one person for mayor and up to five people for Board of Commissioners. Voters in Cornelius can also have their say on extending commissioners and mayoral terms from two to four years.

Click on the links below to view answers from candidates who’ve responded to the Observer’s survey.

Cornelius mayor: Denis Bilodeau | Woody Washam (incumbent)

Cornelius commissioner: Robert Carney, Jr. | Colin Furcht (incumbent) | Scott Higgins | Susan Johnson | Bob Menzel | Michael Miltich | Charmaine Nephew | Michael Osborne (incumbent) | Thurman Ross, Jr. | Todd Sansbury (incumbent)

Matthews Board of Commissioners, mayor

There are 12 candidates seeking six seats on the Board of Commissioners. Incumbent commissioner Larry Whitley is not seeking reelection.

Mayor John F. Higdon is seeking reelection and doesn’t have any competition on the ballot.

Click on the links below to view answers from candidates who’ve responded to the Observer’s survey.

Matthews commissioner: Jonathan Clayton | David Gaertner | Renee Garner (incumbent) | Gina Hoover (incumbent) | Ken McCool (incumbent) | Jeff Miller | Sebastian Sadovsky | Leon Threatt | Mark Tofano (incumbent) | John R. Urban (incumbent) | David Wieser | George Young

Pineville Town Council, mayor

Voters can pick one person for mayor and two people for town council. Click on the links below to view answers from candidates who responded to the Observer’s survey.

Pineville mayor: David Phillips | Ed Samaha

Town council: Eric Fransen | Les Gladden | Danielle A. Moore | Amelia Stinson-Wesley

Mint Hill Board of Commissioners, mayor

Voters in Mint Hill will have their choice of five commissioners candidates for four seats on the ballot this year. The mayor’s race is not competitive, with incumbent Brad Simmons seeking reelection.

Commissioners candidates include: Dale Dalton, Twanna Handerson, Patrick Holton, Tony Long and Matthew Schwoebel. The candidates did not respond to the Observer’s election survey.

The Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly published a story Oct. 16 from a candidate forum where commissioners candidates talked about a range of issues. Read that story here.

Davidson Board of Commissioners, mayor

In the town of Davidson, Mayor Rusty Knox is running for reelection without declared competition, and exactly five candidates are running for the five commissioners seats on the ballot.

The commissioners candidates include Matthew Dellinger, Ryan Fay, Steven G. “Steve” Justus, Tracy Mattison Brandon and Autumn Rierson Michael. Justus is the only candidate who’s not an incumbent.

Also on Davidson ballots: a question asking voters whether they’re OK with changing commissioners term lengths from two to four years and staggering them.

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