Here’s a Q & A on how the annexation vote would work (as passed by the House Finance Committee):
Q: How many signatures have to be collected to get a vote?
A: It requires 15% of the total registered voters of the municipality plus annexed area.
Let’s take Raleigh as an example. It has 251,654 registered voters. This means that someone would have to get 38,198 signatures AND then add 15% of the number of registered voters from the annexed area. Let’s say there are 2,000 registered voters in an annexed area–we would add 300 people.
Note: When gathering signatures for petitions, there always is a need
to collect more signatures than needed due to challenges (and the
possibility of ineligible people signing it). The number of signatures
needed would likely be much higher.
Basically, someone would need to get about 39,000 signatures (not including the extra signatures that would be needed) to have a vote if being annexed by Raleigh. As if that would ever happen.
Since this isn’t a research paper and I’m not suggesting exact numbers, let me do some quick and dirty math. NC has 9.2 million people and 6.2 million registered voters–the % of total population that consists of registered voters is 67%–I’m going to apply that to population numbers.
Let’s take a much smaller city, like Goldsboro with 37,639 people–it would have about 25,000 registered voters. Someone would “only” need to get about 3,750 signatures (not including the 15% from the annexed area and the extra signatures that would be needed).
Q: How much time does someone have to get the signatures?
A: This is where it really gets amusing. The referendum petitions may only be picked up after the resolution of intent has been adopted. The petition must be provided to a municipality before the tenth day after the public hearing (i.e. 9 days). The public hearing is no less than 60 days and no more than 90 days after adoption of the resolution of intent.
Short Answer: Someone could have as short a period of time as 69 days! The longest period would be 99 days. This also assumes (probably incorrectly) that affected property owners would immediately know of the resolution of intent.
In a little over 2 months, someone in Raleigh would have to get around 39,000 signatures. This would be impossible.
Someone in Goldsboro would need to get about 3,750 signatures in 69 days (not including the 15% of registered voters from the annexed area or the “extra” signatures that would be needed). Getting 3,750 signatures would be highly unlikely and probably impossible.
Q: Who gets to vote?
A: If all of this weren’t enough of a farce, the eligible voters of the proposed annexed area and the municipality would vote.
The number of eligible voters in even a smaller municipality like Goldsboro would overwhelm the number of eligible voters in the proposed annexed area. There would be no voice for those in the annexed area (their voice would be drowned out), and as a result, for all practical purposes, the vote would be based on the will of municipal residents.
It would come down to convicing the municipal residents to reject the annexation. The proposed annexation victims would be up against the municipality and its resources that would be used to “educate” its residents on the benefits of the annexation.
Bottom Line
If someone being annexed in Raleigh could get about 39,000 signatures within 69 days, then that miracle would lead to municipal residents dictating whether an area is annexed. Note: The vote could only take place in a general election. This ensures that there’s high municipal turn-out (this is the cherry on top of this charade).
One final thing: Let’s use Lexington, NC as an example, where Rep. Holliman who is the sponsor of the amendment is from. There are 20,338 people in Lexington (about 13,650 registered voters). Anyone being annexed would need about 2,050 signatures just from Lexington (plus there is 15% of the registered voters in the proposed annexed area and the extra signatures needed to make up for any signatures that are rejected). A conservative estimate for all the signatures that would be needed would be about 2,750-3,000 signatures.
I wonder if areas in Davidson County that are being annexed by Lexington could get 3,000 signatures in 69 days–highly unlikely. If they did manage this incredible feat, they then would have the residents of Lexington ultimately determine if the area should be annexed.
This “vote” isn’t a vote–it is an insult. Some legislators think that if people hear that there’s a vote, the citizens won’t realize that this is a charade. NC citizens are a lot smarter than these legislators think.
Note: This post was changed at 9:56 pm on Thursday to correct data.
