Category: Local

A special runoff election was held on Tuesday for the District 2 seat on the Atlanta Public Schools school board. Aretta Baldon won the election with 551 votes over fellow candidate David Huntley’s 405. A nine-candidate general election had previously been held on September 17, and the top two vote recipients, Baldon and Huntley, advanced…

Tony Buzbee topped Houston’s mayoral candidate field in total receipts during the July 1 through October 6 reporting period, contributing $2.5 million to his campaign.   In comparison: Incumbent Sylvester Turner raised $733,324. Bill King raised $281,829 and loaned his campaign $200,000. Dwight Boykins raised $130,105. Kendall Baker contributed $20,000 to his campaign.   The…

In Lexington, Oregon, Mayor Marcia Kemp has resigned from her position ahead of a recall election scheduled for October 22. The resignation was effective on October 10.   The recall effort against Kemp was organized in response to a nine-day government shutdown in Lexington beginning on July 1. The shutdown occurred a result of three…

A recall effort seeking to remove three of the Antelope Valley Union High School District board of trustees’ five members did not go to a vote in 2019. In order for the recall to be included on the ballot, supporters were required to submit petitions with the signatures of 25,000 registered voters from the three…

Special elections for Birmingham City Council Districts 1, 6, and 7 were held October 8, 2019. Districts 1 and 6 were vacated after the former officeholders were elected to the Jefferson County Commission in 2018. District 7 was vacant because the former officeholder resigned when he moved outside of the district. There are a total…

In North Carolina, all eight seats on the Raleigh City Council, including the mayor’s seat, were up for nonpartisan general election on Tuesday. Six incumbents ran for re-election, while two seats were open.   Mayoral candidates Mary-Ann Baldwin and Charles Francis advanced to a runoff election scheduled for November 5, since no candidate won a…

The town of Cary voted on two bond issues on Oct. 8. The first measure authorizes the town to issue $112 million in bonds to fund the expansion and creation of parks and recreation facilities. The second measure authorizes the town to issue $113 million in bonds to fund improvements in local transportation. The improvements…

Preemption occurs when law at a higher level of government is used to overrule authority at a lower level of government. A recent sequence of events in Florida provides an example of the conflict that can emerge between state and local governments over the idea of preemption.   In August 2019, the Florida Third District Court…

Voters in Memphis, Tennessee, voted to approve an initiative that increased the city’s sales tax by an additional 0.5% (from 2.25% to 2.75%) in order to fund health benefits and pensions to the levels provided in 2014 and 2016, respectively, for fire and police public safety officers. The measure also earmarked additional revenue generated by…

Incumbent Jim Strickland defeated former Mayor Willie Herenton, Shelby County Commissioner Tamara Sawyer, and nine other candidates to win election to a second four-year term as mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, October 3. As of 9:00 p.m. Central Time, Strickland had received 63% of the vote to Herenton’s 29% and Sawyer’s 6% with 52% of precincts…