Burke County Public Schools elections (2017)
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Three of the seven seats on the Burke County Public Schools Board of Education in North Carolina were up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017. Central and Eastern District board members Buddy Armour and Sam Wilkinson filed for re-election and ran unopposed. Western District board member Seth Hunt Jr. filed for re-election and defeated challengers Ty Chapman and Herb McDowell.[1]
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Burke County Public Schools Board of Education is composed of seven members serving four-year terms. Six members are elected by district and the remaining member is elected at large.
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file a notice of candidacy with their county board of elections by July 21, 2017. In North Carolina, candidates must be registered voters of the district, at least 21 years of age by the date of the general election, and not serving an active felony sentence, including any period of probation or parole.[2]
To vote in North Carolina, voters must be U.S. citizens and residents of North Carolina who have lived in the county they intend to vote in for at least 30 days. Citizens must also be at least 18 years old. If a voter has been convicted of a felony, their right to vote must have been restored. A voter in North Carolina cannot claim the right to vote elsewhere. To vote in this 2017 school board election, citizens had to register to vote by October 13, 2017.[3]
- See also: Voting in North Carolina and Voter identification laws by state
Candidates and results
Central District
Results
| Burke County Public Schools, Central District General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Buddy Armour Incumbent (unopposed) |
97.75% | 4,746 |
| Write-in votes | 2.25% | 109 |
| Total Votes | 4,855 | |
| Source: The News Herald, "11/07/2017 Unofficial Municipal Election Results - Burke," accessed November 7, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available. | ||
Candidates
Buddy Armour 
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Eastern District
Results
| Burke County Public Schools, Eastern District General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Sam Wilkinson Incumbent (unopposed) |
98.36% | 4,806 |
| Write-in votes | 1.64% | 80 |
| Total Votes | 4,886 | |
| Source: The News Herald, "11/07/2017 Unofficial Municipal Election Results - Burke," accessed November 7, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available. | ||
Candidates
| Sam Wilkinson
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Western District
Results
| Burke County Public Schools, Western District General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Seth Hunt Jr. Incumbent |
52.15% | 2,832 |
| Herb McDowell | 26.80% | 1,455 |
| Ty Chapman | 20.63% | 1,120 |
| Write-in votes | 0.42% | 23 |
| Total Votes | 5,430 | |
| Source: The News Herald, "11/07/2017 Unofficial Municipal Election Results - Burke," accessed November 7, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available. | ||
Candidates
| Seth Hunt Jr.
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Ty Chapman | Herb McDowell | |||
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: North Carolina elections, 2017
This 2017 school board election in North Carolina shared the ballot with elections for two seats on the Morganton city council.[1]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for this North Carolina school board election in 2017:
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
School board candidates in North Carolina are required to file a statement of organization within 10 days of filing for office. Candidates who do not think they will receive or spend more than $1,000 during the election cycle are permitted to file a Certification of Threshold form. Once that has been filed, they are not required to file disclosure reports unless they exceed the threshold, but still must keep records of all campaign contributions and expenditures.
If a candidate does exceed the threshold, he or she must then file an amendment form and begin reporting all contributions and expenditures according to that year's reporting schedule.[4]
The table below displays the reporting schedule for 2017 school board candidates in North Carolina:
Past elections
To see results from past elections in Burke County Public Schools, click here.
What was at stake?
Report a story for this election
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Candidate survey
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About the district
Burke County Public Schools is located in Burke County in western North Carolina. The seat of county government is Morganton. Burke County was home to an estimated 88,851 residents between 2010 and 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau.[5] The district was the 30th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 12,984 students.[6]
Demographics
Burke County underperformed in comparison to North Carolina as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 17.2 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 28.4 percent for the state as a whole. The median household income in Burke County was $39,360, compared to $46,868 for all of North Carolina. County residents lived below the poverty level at a rate of 16.7 percent, while that rate was 16.4 percent for all state residents.[5]
| Racial Demographics, 2016[5] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Burke County (%) | North Carolina (%) |
| White | 86.6 | 71.0 |
| Black or African American | 6.3 | 22.2 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9 | 1.6 |
| Asian | 3.8 | 2.9 |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| Two or More Races | 1.7 | 2.2 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 6.2 | 9.2 |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Burke County Public Schools North Carolina election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Burke County Public Schools | North Carolina | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Elisabeth Moore, "Email exchange with Debbie Mace, Burke County Director of Elections," August 1, 2017
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "2017 Municipal Elections," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Voter Information," accessed June 10, 2014
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "2015 Candidate Campaign Finance Manual," accessed August 7, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 United States Census Bureau, "Burke County," accessed August 1, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| Burke County Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Burke County, North Carolina | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | Central District: Incumbent, Buddy Armour Eastern District: Incumbent, Sam Wilkinson |
| Important information: | What's at stake? |
