Could Raleigh hold a recall election? It’s rare and complicated but mostly possible

Very few of North Carolina’s more than 500 cities and towns have the ability to recall a local elected leader.

Most that do offer voters a yes or no vote on whether to oust a particular candidate.

In Raleigh, the city’s recall rules are nearly 70 years old and essentially call for a special election. Now, one group, which includes former elected leaders, is considering a recall for the entire council.

Here’s how a recall might work in 2021.

Is a recall happening?

Not now, but one group is mulling it over.

Livable Raleigh, an advocacy group that formed after the 2019 election, held a meeting to gauge public interest in a possible recall. About 170 people attended the Zoom meeting and most expressed interest in pursuing a recall, according to Susan Maruyama, chair of Livable Raleigh.

The meeting wasn’t canceled, as some on social media said. But a Facebook Live stream didn’t work and was a “disappointment,” Marayuma said. A recording of the meeting has been posted online.

In an email after the meeting, Livable Raleigh asked for volunteers to collect petition signatures and said it was in contact with the Wake County Board of Elections and the city to confirm the wording of the petition.

“We do not want to waste time gathering signatures for a petition that turns out to be invalid,” the email says.

Can Raleigh residents call for a recall?

A 1953 provision in the city’s charter outlines the process for recalling a city council member.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections’ attorneys think Raleigh is one of the state’s city’s with the authority to conduct recall elections, said Patrick Gannon, public information director for the state board.

Gannon and Wake County Board of Elections Director Gary Sims referred questions to the Raleigh city attorney, who declined to comment.

About two dozen cities in North Carolina have the ability to recall an elected official, including Greensboro and Winston-Salem, but most call for “an up or down vote,” said Gerry Cohen, Wake County Board of Elections member. Raleigh’s provision basically calls for a special election.

One of North Carolina’s most famous instances of a successful recall was in 1963 when the entire Statesville City Council was removed from office for integrating the city’s swimming pools.

How could a recall work?

In short, it’s complicated. And reportedly never done in the city’s history.

The charter says a petition would require the signatures of enough Raleigh voters totaling at least 25% of the voter turnout in the last municipal election. It’s unclear if that applies to each individual race or the entire election.

In 1953, the city council was all elected at large and through a nonpartisan primary. North Carolina passed a uniform municipal election law in 1971 that repealed the “odds and ends” of Raleigh’s elections in the charter, Cohen said. However, it didn’t repeal the recall provision which appears to be modeled after San Diego’s own provision from 1889, he said.

“It has a very complicated procedure for getting signatures that basically reflects what California did 130 years ago,” Cohen said.

The petition is submitted to the city clerk, who must determine if the petition is sufficient or insufficient. If it is sufficient, the Wake County Board of Elections shall order a primary no more than 60 days after the clerk’s certification of the petition, according to the charter.

Normally it would be the respective county’s Board of Elections that would determine the validity of signatures on petitions, said Bob Joyce, a professor of public law and government at the UNC School of Government.

“That makes sense because the Board of Elections is the keeper of the registration data and has the most information about voters,” he said. “But the charter calls for the city clerk to certify the position. I think the charter provision would prevail. It’s just not the way a charter provision would be drawn today. But, of course, it wasn’t drawn today.”

While the charter calls the election method a primary, it actually describes a runoff election, the method of election the city currently uses. The incumbent would automatically be on the ballot unless they ask not to be.

If a candidate, including the incumbent, receives a majority of the votes the person fills the remainder of the term. If a candidate doesn’t get a majority, the charter calls for a runoff 20 days from the date of the first election.

“It is totally and completely impossible to administer,” Cohen said. “It was the Raleigh system in 1953. In 1953 there was no absentee voting. There was no early voting. And the canvass was two days after the election.”

Now there is a requirement for 30 days of absentee voting and 17 days of early voting, he said.

“I don’t know how this would work if this was triggered,” Cohen said.

Joyce agreed, saying it’s “imaginable” to hold a runoff 20 days after the first election given the way modern elections are held.

“There would have to be some intervention by the state Board of Elections to authorize some different schedule or perhaps a local act of the General Assembly to change the charter provision.”

Why do some people want a recall?

The Raleigh City Council voted in closed session on June 1 to ask state legislators to move Raleigh city elections to November 2022, to keep elections in even years and to change the election method from a runoff to a plurality. The city attorney announced the council’s intentions during a work session a week later.

Some, including the North Carolina state senators who represent Wake County, have criticized the decision for a lack of public involvement and transparency.

The Raleigh City Council went into a closed session to preserve attorney-client privilege.

“Given the legal issues related to an October 2021 election and the substantial consequences to the city that would occur if an election was held and later determined to be unconstitutional, the discussion and potential solutions were covered by the attorney-client privilege,” Raleigh City Attorney Robin Tatum wrote in an email to The News & Observer.

Why delay the election?

The next election for all eight members of the Raleigh City Council was originally set for Oct. 5 of this year.

But the U.S. Census Bureau’s delay of districting data made it so that having the October election would be unlikely. Five of the eight seats on the council are district seats, meaning only people who live in the district can vote for the candidate, who must also reside in the district.

Senate Bill 722 sought to address the delay and move city elections that have districts to the March primary. But at the request of the City Council, an amendment was added to specifically move Raleigh’s elections to November 2022. It also moves the elections permanently to even years and changes the election from a runoff to a plurality.

The bill has been approved by the General Assembly but has yet to be acted on by the governor.