To reflect on the year, Chapelboro.com is re-publishing some of the top stories that impacted and defined our community’s experience in 2020. These stories and topics affected Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of our region.
2020 saw two heated election cycles, as some local government elections for Orange and Chatham Counties were determined in the primaries while state and national elections unfolded in the fall. One major difference between the two: the outbreak of COVID-19. Unlike the primary elections, local governments changed how people could safely vote in the general elections, while others voted absentee at a record rate.
The primary election cycle determined all of Orange County’s local government races, as no Republican candidates registered to run in the county commissioner, Orange County School Board or district court judge races. As results came in on March 3, the results favored challenging candidates over incumbents.
In the Orange County Board of Commissioners race, newcomer Jean Hamilton won one of the two available District 1 seats for the board, leaving incumbents Mark Dorosin and Penny Rich in a tight standoff for the other seat. The race ultimately wasn’t decided until after official counts of absentee and provisional ballots on March 13, with the final tally leaving Dorosin with a nine-vote lead over Rich. In the race for the lone at-large seat, challenger Amy Fowler beat incumbent Mark Marcoplos with 77% of the votes. Renee Price, who ran unopposed in District 2, was elected for her second term and has since been chosen as the board’s chair.
The Orange County Schools Board of Education race also saw challenger candidates succeed, as three won a close election. Bonnie Hauser, Jennifer Moore and Carrie Doyle earned seats on the board, while the lone incumbent Tony McKnight collected the fifth-most votes.
Despite some early controversy in the race for a District Court Judge seat in Chatham and Orange County due to confusion around an unaffiliated candidate, Hathaway Pendergrass was elected to the position by more than 12,000 votes. He was formally appointed to the position by Governor Roy Cooper in June.
People gather at Carrboro Town Hall, a popular voting site in Orange County, for the primary election in March. The election cycle saw some close local government races, particularly for one seat on the Board of County Commissioners. (Dakota Moyer/Chapelboro.com)
The same day as primary election results were released, Cooper alerted North Carolinians to the first positive case of COVID-19 in the state. From there, the coronavirus pandemic worsened and deeply affected residents across North Carolina. As the general election in November drew nearer, plans to protect voters’ and workers’ health began to form.
Orange County Board of Elections Director Rachel Raper told Chapelboro in October that visitors during early voting could expect to see several changes. Each early voting space was altered to properly distance voting stations and accommodate public health guidelines while indoors. Greeters controlled the flow of foot traffic, offered masks to voters not wearing one and gave out ‘I Voted’ pens instead of stickers.
The local turnout for early voting saw tens of thousands of community members cast their ballots. More than 50,000 Orange County residents voted early, while more than 30,000 Chatham county residents did. Absentee voting saw unprecedented demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, allowing people to vote from home while dropping off or mailing ballots to county Boards of Elections. Orange County saw eight times the amount of absentee ballot requests in 2020 than it did for 2016 and more than 1.4 million North Carolinian voters sent in requests.
Ultimately, North Carolina saw a significantly higher turnout than any recent elections, with 75% of registered voters casting ballots. Most people voted early, with 65% of all North Carolinians taking advantage of the opportunity. 18% of voters used absentee methods while only 16% voted in-person, a major decrease compared to previous years.
Workers prepare absentee ballots for mailing at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. North Carolina saw an unprecedented boom in absentee ballot requests for the 2020 general elections because of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
The sheer amount of absentee ballots caused some results in North Carolina’s general elections to be delayed, as candidates in close races waited for all possible ballots to be counted. An extension for the arrival of such mailed-in ballots was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in October.
For local races in Orange and Chatham Counties, Democratic candidates and incumbents earned the most votes. Orange County state representative Valarie Foushee won 68% of the vote in her race, while representatives Verla Insko and Graig Meyer earned re-election by running unopposed. U.S. Congressman David Price also earned re-election to his 17th term representing the community in Washington D.C.
In Chatham County’s Board of Commissioners race, Democratic incumbents Karen Howard and Mike Dasher earned re-election, while newcomer and unaffiliated candidate Franklin Gomez Flores earned election to the District 5 seat.
While this support for Democratic candidates continued in Orange County, the rest of the state saw a larger movement toward Republican candidates. Republican challengers saw several elections over Democratic candidates in state government races, with Cooper’s re-election as governor and Attorney General Josh Stein’s re-election as the main exceptions. On the federal level, President Donald Trump edged out Democratic candidate Joe Biden for North Carolina’s electoral college votes and U.S. Senator Thom Tillis earned re-election over Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham.
Orange County residents favored Biden in the presidential election, with the former vice president earning 74% of the vote. When media outlets called the election for Biden on Saturday, November 7, following continued counts in other states, community members began to celebrate outdoors. Holding signs, waving flags or honking car horns. People along Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and Weaver Street in Carrboro shared their excitement over Biden and vice president Kamala Harris’ victory for hours.
People gathered on Franklin Street as Chapel Hill and Carrboro celebrate the projection of Joe Biden election victory on Saturday, November 7. (Dakota Moyer/Chapelboro.com)
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