Date set for city election
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on May 17, 2012 1:46 PM
Goldsboro citizens will go to the polls to elect their leaders July 17 now that some U.S. congressional candidates have requested secondary primaries in other races.
The effect will be three more months of campaigning in advance of the city's general election, which has already been delayed from November due to redistricting as a result of the 2010 census data.
The election was originally scheduled for June 26, but Board of Elections Director Vickie Reed explained that a federal law requires military and citizens overseas to have ballots available to them at least 60 days ahead of any federal election.
The implementation of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act means if any of North Carolina's 13 U.S. Congressional District primary candidates requested a second primary, that primary will need to be pushed up 10 weeks to July 17. The Goldsboro primary election would also be held that day.
Secondary primaries can be called for if no candidate in the first primary receives at least 40 percent of the votes.
Secondary primaries were requested in the District 8, 9 and 11 Republican races. The deadline for requests was today at noon.