This Is How 19% of Voters Shape 100% of Our Cities

Voter turnout across the Triangle’s core counties in off years is a fraction of general elections; those few ballots determine what gets built, and where.

Traditionally, municipal elections in the Triangle draw only a fraction of the turnout we see in presidential or midterm years. 2023 was no different. We looked back at the data across the Triangle’s five core counties — Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham, and Johnston — and found that just 19% of registered voters came out to vote in the last municipal election.