NEWS
Davidson: This is Your Ballot
This is the header of a sample ballot, and a screenshot of a full-size complete sample ballot is at the bottom of this article.
REMINDER: Early Voting is at the new Town Hall & Community Center @ 251 South Street
Election Day is November 7.
Early voting began October 26, with Davidson Town Hall and Community Center as one of the designated sites. Additional details about early voting can be found here.
There are five items on Davidson voters’ ballots, three are nonpartisan elections and two are referenda.
The early voting calendar.
The first election is for Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board of Education at-large. These at-large seats are different than the district seats. Members are elected to 4-year terms. Voters may vote for up to three candidates. Candidates are:
- Annette Albright
- Peggy A. Capehart
- Claire Covington
- Bill Fountain
- Jaunrique Pallamente Hall
- Omar Harris
- Shamaiye Haynes
- Michael Johnson
- Brian Kasher
- Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel
- Liz Monterrey
- Lenora Shipp
- Clara Kennedy Witherspoon
- Monty Witherspoon
Only one of the three current at-large school board members is running for reelection, leaving two open seats. WFAE education reporter Ann Doss Helms filed this report about that race in July. Retired CMS educator Lenora Shipp is the lone incumbent on the ballot. She is seeking a second term.
The next election is Town of Davidson Mayor. Incumbent Mayor Russell B. (Rusty) Knox Jr. is running unopposed.
The final election on the ballot is Town of Davidson Board of Commissioners. Voters may select up to five, and there are five candidates on the ballot. Four incumbent candidates: Matthew Dellinger, Ryan Fay, Tracy Mattison Brandon, and Autumn Rierson Michael are running for reelection. Dellinger, Fay, and Brandon are seeking second terms. Commissioner Michael is seeking her fourth term.
Newcomer and fifth candidate in the race is Steven G. (Steve) Justus.
The two referenda are the next items on the ballot.
The first is the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Facilities Bonds. The language of the bond is as follows:
“SHALL the order authorizing $2,500,000,000 of bonds plus interest to provide funds to pay the costs of constructing, improving, and renovating school facilities, specifically including, among other things, the construction and equipping of athletic facilities, the acquisition and installation of furnishings and equipment, the acquisition of land, rights-of-way and easements in land required therefor, and related public infrastructure development, and providing that additional taxes may be levied in an amount sufficient to pay the principal and interest of the bonds be approved?”
That item is a yes or no vote.
The final referendum is the Town of Davidson Charter Amendment, which reads:
“Shall the ordinance amending the Town of Davidson Charter that changes the Davidson Board of Commissioners term lengths from two-year terms to four-year staggered terms be approved?”
That item is also a yes or no vote.
The proposed staggered 4-year terms do not include the Mayor. The mayor’s term will remain two years. However, the proposal would have three commissioners up for election in one cycle, and two in a subsequent cycle. And the Mayor’s race would be on both.
The current Town Board discussed this item over several meetings in late summer with the initial brief presented at the June 27 meeting. A public hearing and subsequent vote by the town board was held on July 25. The Board could have taken the action on their own, but the vote they took was to put this matter directly to the citizens in the form of the referendum.
