On Tuesday, Nov. 2, Wake Forest voters – or those who turn out at the polls – will elect two commissioners and a mayor. Who you elect does make a difference, and who turns out to vote also makes a difference.
There are 33,265 registered voters, active and inactive, inside the Town of Wake Forest with a population of 50,244 as of early this year, or 66 percent. In 2019 when we elected three commissioners – Jim Dyer, Chad Sary and Adam Wright – there were 29,457 voters and the population was just under 45,000, 65 percent. That year 13 percent of the town voters went to the polls. The all-time high voter turnout of 15 percent was in 2017 when Mayor Vivian Jones won a clear victory over Jim Thompson, who had served one term as commissioner, and current Commissioners Liz Simpers and Bridget Wall-Lennon were elected. In 2015 the turnout may have marked a historic low, 7 percent turnout, when newcomer Brian Pate led the ticket followed by incumbents Anne Reeve and Greg Harrington.
Of those 33,265 Wake Forest voters, the largest number are Unaffiliated – 12,974 – followed by Republicans at 10,150, Democrats at 9,290 and Libertarians at 287. This is at variance with Wake County as a whole, where there are 312,415 Unafiliated voters but more Democrats than Republicans, 286,029 versus 179,546. There are also 6,369 Libertarians.
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Good news! Gary Sims, the director of the Wake County Board of Elections, said today that he is “overstaffed” with election workers, those trained volunteers who serve at each precinct. He even has people on standby in case someone has to be absent. This should assure a good experience when you go to your Wake Forest precinct to vote next Tuesday.
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Wake Forest town elections are nonpartisan. The people running for the two seats on the town board are Patrick Griffin, Michael Molinaro, Keith Shackleford, Commissioner Liz Simpers and Nick Sliwinski. The two candidates with the highest number of votes are the winners. The two mayoral candidates are Mayor Vivian Jones and Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon.
They have answered a series of questions in September and October published in the Wake Forest Gazette, and all participated in the candidate forum sponsored by the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce which is being rebroadcast on Channel 10 at 8 a.m., noon, 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The 15 polling places for Wake Forest voters open at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7:30 p.m. It may be 11 p.m. or later before the voting totals are available on local television stations because voting officials have to carry the vote totals from each precinct to the Wake County Board of Elections for tabulation; they cannot transmit them electronically because of danger of interference.
These are the 15 precincts for Wake Forest voters with their addresses. You also should have a voters card with the same information. You should vote in the precinct to which you are assigned.
19-03 – Wake Forest Church of God at 155 East Cedar Avenue, Wake Forest
19-05 – Wake Forest Presbyterian Church at 12605 Capital Boulevard, Wake Forest
19-07 – J.B. Flaherty Park Community Center at 1226 North White Street, Wake Forest
19-09 – New Bethel Baptist Church at 605 East Young Street, Rolesville
19-11 – Wake Forest Community House at 133 West Owen Avenue, Wake Forest
19-12 – Heritage Middle School at 3400 Rogers Road, Wake Forest
19-13 – Wakefield Middle School, 2300 Wakefield Pines Drive, Raleigh
19-14 – North Forest Pines Elementary School at 11501 Forest Pines Drive, Raleigh
19-15 – Wakefield North Ninth-Grade Center at 931 Durham Road, Wake Forest
19-16 – Harris Creek Elementary School at 3829 Forestville Road, Raleigh
19-17 – Raleigh Fire Station #28 at 3500 Forestville Road, Raleigh
19-18 – Jones Dairy Elementary School at 1100 Jones Dairy Road, Wake Forest
19-19 – Sanford Creek Elementary School at 701 Granite Falls Boulevard, Rolesville.
19-20 – Richland Creek Community Church at 3229 Burlington Mills Road, Wake Forest
19-21 – Rolesville Middle School at 4700 Burlington Mills Road, Rolesville
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