County Commissioners elections

The May primary election features ten candidates for the five seats on the Durham County Board of Commissioners. All ten candidates are Democrats, so only registered Democrats and independents who choose to vote in the Democratic primary are eligible to cast ballots in this race.

I had been under the impression that with ten candidates and five seats, the top five vote getters in the May primary would be the new Board of Commissioners. After a brief chat last week with Durham County Democratic party chair Kevin Farmer, i learned that's not exactly the case.

From the Board of Elections website:

If six or more Party candidates file, they compete in the primary and the five winners move to the Nov Ballot.—
MAYBE. To move directly to Nov, the winners in this case must receive a SUBSTANTIAL PLURALITY or the
sixth/seventh place candidate can, in writing, request a second primary. Substantial Plurality in a multi seat
race is determined by adding the total votes cast for all candidates, dividing by the number of seats and then
multiplying by 40%.

Examples of Multi Seat Substantial Plurality:
If: A receives 2500 votes
B receives 2000 votes
C receives 1800 votes
D receives 800 votes
E receives 300 votes
F receives 200 votes
G receives 100 votes

Then: 7700 total votes. Divide by 5 = 1540
1540 x 40% = 616 + 1 =617
Substantial Plurality is 617 votes.
Candidates A, B, C, D are ok and move to Nov.
‘F’ may challenge ‘E’ and request a 2nd primary
‘G’ is history.

If: A receives 2000 votes
B receives 1900 votes
C receives 1400 votes
D receives 900 votes
E receives 800 votes
F receives 500 votes
G receives 100 votes

Then: 7600 total votes. Divide by 5 =1520
1520 x 40% = 608 + 1 =609
Substantial Plurality is 609 votes.
Candidates A,B,C,D,E are ok and move to Nov.
No second primary.
‘F’ and ‘G’ are history.

To try to clarify that, consider this. Voters are entitled to choose up to five candidates when they cast their ballot in May, but they don't have to use all five of those votes. By adding up the total number of votes received, and then dividing by 5, the threshold for election is actually lowered.

Let's say that 5,000 people vote in the primary. If each of them selects five candidates, then the 40% threshold for votes is 2,000. If 1,000 of those voters only selects four candidates, while the other 4,000 choose five, the threshold drops to 1,920 votes. Personally, i think if you've got a vote, you should use it, but we've seen that game played out before in Durham. What's still unclear to me is what happens if more than five candidates exceed the 40% threshold. Will there be a runoff between the 5th and 6th place finishers if that happens? I've got a call into BoE director Mike Ashe for clarification.

Of the ten candidates, three, (Ellen Reckhow, Becky Heron, and Michael Page) are incumbents. The conventional wisdom is that the remaining seven candidates are in a race for the last two seats, which are being vacated by Lewis Cheek and Philip Cousin. And there are some pretty impressive resumes seeking this office, in addition to some of the usual suspects. I'm not entirely happy with the way the Commissioners dealt with the roadside panhandling ban earlier this year, and i'll be taking a pretty thorough look at some of the challengers before i decide how to cast my vote. I hope that incumbents aren't counting on a free pass from me. Check back occasionally before election day if you're interested in seeing how my preferences evolve between now and then.