The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce participated in this year’s County Commissioner race by surveying candidates about issues of interest to Chamber members and their employees. As part of the survey, candidates were asked to respond to a series of questions with a “yes, no, or unsure” response and to complete three open-ended response questions. These three questions were asked to better understand how each candidate would be involved in three key economic development activities the County has undertaken: hiring a new Economic Development Director, updating the Comprehensive Plan, and reaching the stated goal of creating 5,000 new private sector jobs and $125 million in new commercial property. All responses are printed exactly as they were written. Unlike previous years, the Chamber’s election coverage does not include commentary on each candidate.

Important Election Changes
This year’s election will include a significant change due to a referendum that passed in 2006. The Board of Commissioners will expand from five to seven candidates and most candidates will no longer be elected via an “at-large” system. Instead, five of the seven Commissioners will be elected to represent their resident “district.” District 1 includes most of Chapel Hill and Carrboro while District 2 will encompass the rest of the County. The remaining two candidates will continue to be “at-large.” In the primary election held on May 6, only residents of a District may vote for the Commissioner candidate who represents their political party and resides in their respective District. Thus, a Chapel Hill democrat residing in District 1 may not vote for a District 2 republican candidate in the Primary election. Due to the number of candidates running in each district and their part affiliations, most of the Commissioner seats will be determined in the primary. In the General Election held on November 4, voting based on Districts is eliminated and voters can vote for any candidate to represent District 1, District 2 or at-large. For a more complete summary of the election changes, please click here.

As always, the Chamber is pleased to be involved in the County election and encourages all of its members to vote on May 6 and November 4.