Voters in several communities will begin casting ballots today ahead of local elections on October 11th. Durham voters will be selecting their choices for mayor and city council.
Bill Bell has been mayor of Durham since 2001. He'll have three challengers in this Primary Election. Sylvester Williams is a Durham minister. Ralph McKinney is a retired salesman who's now making his 4th bid for mayor. And Joe Bowser is Durham's County Commissioner. The top two candidates will move on to the General Election in November. Meanwhile, 3 city council seats are up for grabs. The seven contenders include two incumbents. One of the candidates will be eliminated in the primary making it six candidates for the November ballot. The ballot in November will also include two sales-tax referendums for public transportation and education programs.
Additional Information for Durham city council race:
The two incumbents in the race are Eugene Brown and Diane Catotti. The five challengers are Solomon Burnette, Donald Hughes, Victoria Peterson, Steve Schewel, and John Tarantino. Alice Bailey also appears on the ballot but has dropped out of the race. Votes for her won't count. More information and sample ballots can be found at the Durham County Board of Elections website.