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Apex council votes to seek countywide input on moving municipal elections to even years
Summary
After a Wake County presentation on costs, turnout and operational impacts, Apex council adopted a nonbinding resolution to express interest in exploring a move to even-year municipal elections and asking other municipalities for feedback.
Council members voted May 28 to adopt a resolution expressing interest in exploring a shift of Apex's municipal elections from odd years to even years, following a technical briefing by Olivia McCall of the Wake County Board of Elections.
McCall told the council Wake County serves more than 850,000 registered voters and that cost-sharing and ballot ordering change significantly when municipalities move from odd to even years. "If you did decide to go to an even year, you would be charged for 50% of all ballots that contain Apex municipal contest," McCall said, outlining how ballot printing, early-voting staffing and absentee-mail costs are allocated in even-year elections. Board member Jerry Cohen recounted Raleigh's experience and the effect on turnout: "In 2019 there were 52,000 votes cast for mayor; in 2022 there were 150,000 votes cast for mayor," he said, illustrating higher turnout in federal-election years.
Council members framed the vote as a request to survey other Wake County municipalities and to relay findings back to Apex before any legislative filing. Mayor Pro Tim emphasized the resolution is exploratory: the document would be shared with other clerks in Wake County and would start a survey of municipal interest, not change Apex's election dates by itself. The measure passed with a roll-call "I."
