Voters in a dozen counties across North Carolina will head to the polls Tuesday to pick new city and town leaders, and cast ballots in a handful of runoff elections.

Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. and will close at 7:30 p.m. in counties with elections.

What You Need To Know

  • Tuesday is Election Day for local elections in communities across the state

  • Voters in Charlotte, Greensboro, Fayetteville and other cities will choose their next mayors and city councils

  • The election was postponed after delays getting the census numbers needed to redraw political districts

  • Find your polling place and see your sample ballot here

The biggest races this week are for mayor and city council members in Charlotte, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Hickory, Mooresville and Sanford.

In Charlotte, Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, is up against Republican Stephanie de Sarachaga-Bilbao. In Greensboro, five-term Mayor Nancy Vaughan is facing Justin Outling, who currently sits on the city council.

There are also runoffs for municipal elections in Cary, New Bern, Rocky Mount and Statesville, along with the Franklin County Board of Education and the Jackson County Board of Education’s District 2.

Wake and Graham counties also have second primaries to pick party nominations in the sheriff’s races there. In Wake County, incumbent Sheriff Gerald Baker is facing Willie Rowe, a longtime Wake County Sheriff’s Office officer.

Rowe beat Baker by about 5% in the May 17 Democratic primary, but did not get the 30% needed to avoid a second election. Tuesday’s Democratic primary winner will face former Sheriff Donnie Harrison in November. Harrison overwhelmingly won the Republican primary in May with more than 80% of the vote.

In the Graham County Sheriff race, incumbent Jerry Crisp had just three more votes than former Sheriff Russell Moody in the May 17 election. Seven people ran in that election. Now it’s just down to two candidates vying for the Republican nomination.

The winner of Tuesday’s vote for the Republican nomination will face unaffiliated candidate Brad Hoxit on Nov. 8.

Early voting in the July 26 election ran until Saturday. Statewide, more than 68,000 people voted early or by mail for the elections.

Most of the elections on the ballot Tuesday were postponed last year. The city is required to use new population data to draw new city council districts every 10 years, but the COVID pandemic delayed getting the census results for redistricting.

Polling places opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday in towns and cities holding municipal elections, and countywide in Wake and Graham counties.

Spectrum News 1 will have live coverage as the results come in from around North Carolina Tuesday night.