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Cabarrus County Schools elections (2016)

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Cabarrus County Schools Elections

General election date:
November 8, 2016
Enrollment (13–14):
30,088 students

Four of the seven seats on the Cabarrus County Schools school board were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. The seats of David Harrison, Jeff Phillips, Barry Shoemaker, and Rob Walter were up for election. All four incumbents filed for re-election and were joined by four challengers in the race: Thomas Clark, Cindy Fertenbaugh, Jeffrey King, and Keisha Villatoro. Shoemaker, Fertenbaugh, Walter, and Harrison won the seats.[1][2]

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Cabarrus County Schools school board consists of seven members elected at large to four-year terms. There was a general election on November 8, 2016.

Candidates began to file affidavits of candidacy on December 1, 2015. The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in the general election was December 21, 2015.[3] Candidates had to pay a filing fee of $50.[4]

Candidates and results

At-Large

Results

Cabarrus County Schools,
At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Barry Shoemaker Incumbent 16.50% 38,336
Green check mark transparent.png Cindy Fertenbaugh 15.43% 35,852
Green check mark transparent.png Rob Walter Incumbent 14.97% 34,762
Green check mark transparent.png David Harrison Incumbent 12.91% 29,985
Thomas Clark 12.46% 28,947
Jeff Phillips Incumbent 12.02% 27,916
Keisha Villatoro 8.42% 19,557
Jeffrey King 6.60% 15,319
Write-in votes 0.69% 1,606
Total Votes (100) 232,280
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Official General Election Results-Cabarrus," accessed November 8, 2016

Candidates

David Harrison Green check mark transparent.png Jeff Phillips Barry Shoemaker Green check mark transparent.png Rob Walter Green check mark transparent.png

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  • Board member 2012-Present

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  • Board member 2012-Present

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  • Board member 2012-Present

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  • Incumbent
Thomas Clark Cindy Fertenbaugh Green check mark transparent.png Jeffrey King Keisha Villatoro

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Additional elections on the ballot

See also: North Carolina elections, 2016

The following offices shared primary, general or both election dates with the school board elections in Cabarrus County:

Note: The date for North Carolina's congressional primary was June 7, 2016. This primary was originally scheduled for March 15, 2016.

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for this North Carolina school board election:[5]

Deadline Event
December 1, 2015 Candidate filing begins
December 21, 2015 Candidate filing ends
February 29, 2016 First quarter campaign finance deadline
March 15, 2016 Primary Election Day, if necessary
July 12, 2016 Second quarter campaign finance deadline
October 31, 2016 Third quarter campaign finance deadline
November 8, 2016 General Election Day
January 11, 2017 Fourth quarter campaign finance deadline

Endorsements

David Harrison, Barry Shoemaker, and Rob Walter were all endorsed by the Cabarrus County Republican Party.[6]

Campaign finance

No candidate in this election had reported any campaign financial activity to the Cabarrus County Board of Elections as of November 1, 2016.[7]

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016
Campaign Finance Ballotpedia.png

School board candidates in North Carolina were required to file campaign finance reports to their county's board of elections unless the candidate:

(1) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in contributions, and

(2) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in loans, and

(3) Did not spend more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).[8]

The third quarter campaign finance deadline was October 31, 2016, and the fourth quarter deadline was January 11, 2017.[9]

Past elections

What was at stake?

Report a story for this election

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Candidate survey

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Click here to view or fill out the survey.

2016

Issues in the district

Transgender bathroom law
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R)

North Carolina passed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (HB 2) which stated that individuals in government-operated facilities had to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender stated on their birth certificate on March 23, 2016. The law was passed by the legislature in a one-day special session and was signed into law that night by Governor Pat McCrory (R). The bill reversed an earlier ruling that allowed transgender individuals to use the restroom of their preference, and it offset local ordinances in the state that let transgender citizens do so.[10]

On March 30, 2017, the North Carolina State Legislature approved and Gov. Roy Cooper (D) signed a repeal of HB 2. HB 142 repealed HB 2 but created a three-year moratorium on local anti-discrimination ordinances and prohibited local ordinances related to bathroom access.[11] The state house approved HB 142 by a 70-48 vote and the state senate voted 32-16 to pass the measure.[12]

HB 2's effect on NC school districts

When HB 2 was signed into law, many school districts in the state struggled to formulate a response, especially since Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. North Carolina school districts were unsure of how to balance these two laws. In the Wake County Public School System, Wake County sheriff Donnie Harrison said he would consider pulling deputies out of schools if the district did not decide on a consistent transgender bathroom policy. Harrison said the district did not have a uniform policy on the use of bathrooms by transgender students, which was causing confusion and unease among parents.[13][14]

Wake County logo.png

According to Lisa Luten, a Wake County Public School System spokesperson, transgender student issues with bathrooms and locker rooms were handled on a case-by-case basis. "No child has ever been at risk based on how we have handled this issue,” Luten said. “Because this issue is still being debated in federal courts, the school system is unable to create a formal policy.”[13] (Note: The court ruling on HB 2 was made on March 30, 2017.) The district's superintendent James Merrill said that transgender bathroom questions ought to be addressed by administrators rather than student resource officers. According to Nathan Smith, the director of public policy for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the consequence is that many schools decide their transgender bathroom policies on a case-by-case basis, leading to conflicting rules between school campuses.[13][15]

Backlash

On July 21, 2016, the NBA announced it planned to move its All-Star Game from Charlotte, North Carolina, which was scheduled to be held there in 2017. According to the Charlotte Observer, this decision would cost the city approximately $100 million. On September 12, 2016, the NCAA moved seven championships that were scheduled to be held in the state during the 2016-2017 school year. Two days later, the Atlantic Coast Conference made a similar decision, revealing it planned to move the men's football championship game scheduled for December 2016 from Charlotte.

Want to see how this election related to state and national trends on this topic? Ballotpedia tracked this issue in the 2016 election cycle so you can see the connections and impact on this race in context.

Click here for The Bite on this topic.


About the district

See also: Cabarrus County Schools, North Carolina
Cabarrus County Schools is located in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

Cabarrus County Schools is located in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. The county seat is Concord. Cabarrus County was home to 196,762 residents between 2010 and 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[16] The district was the 10th-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 30,088 students.[17]

Demographics

Cabarrus County underperformed in comparison to North Carolina as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 26.2 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.8 percent for the state. The median household income for county residents was $53,935, compared to $46,693 for state residents. The poverty rate in the county was 12.2 percent, compared to 17.2 percent for the entire state.[16]

Racial Demographics, 2015[16]
Race Cabarrus County (%) North Carolina (%)
White 76.5 71.2
Black or African American 17.6 22.1
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7 1.6
Asian 3.1 2.8
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.1 0.1
Two or More Races 2.1 2.1
Hispanic or Latino 10.1 9.1

Cabarrus County Party Affiliation, 2014[18]
Party Registered Voters % of Total
Republican 46,239 38.6
Democratic 39,895 30.8
Libertarian 487 0.4
Unaffiliated 33,249 27.7

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 'Cabarrus County Schools' 'North Carolina'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

Cabarrus County Schools North Carolina School Boards
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External links

Footnotes

  1. Elisabeth Moore, "Email conversation with Carol Soles," January 21, 2016
  2. North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Unofficial General Election Results-Cabarrus," accessed November 8, 2016
  3. North Carolina State Board of Elections, "2016 Candidate Filing," accessed January 20, 2016
  4. Cabarrus County, "Candidate Filing Qualifications," accessed August 1, 2016
  5. North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Reporting Schedules," accessed November 1, 2016
  6. Facebook, "2016 Cabarrus County Republican Candidates," October 11, 2016
  7. Cabarrus County, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed November 1, 2016
  8. General Assembly of North Carolina, "Chapter 163: Elections And Election Laws, Article 22A - Regulating Contributions and Expenditures in Political Campaigns," accessed February 11, 2016
  9. North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Reporting Schedules," accessed October 11, 2016
  10. Charlotte Observer, "Understanding HB2: North Carolina’s newest law solidifies state’s role in defining discrimination," March 26, 2016
  11. ABC 11, "GOV. COOPER SIGNS NORTH CAROLINA'S HB2 COMPROMISE BILL," March 30, 2017
  12. NBC News, "HB2 Repeal: North Carolina Legislature Votes to Overturn Controversial ‘Bathroom Bill’," March 30, 2017
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Daily Tarheel, "Wake County sheriff calls for consistent transgender bathroom policy," September 29, 2016
  14. CBS North Carolina, "Wake sheriff threatens to pull deputies over transgender bathroom policy," September 27, 2016
  15. The News & Observer, "Four things to remember about House Bill 2," September 13, 2016
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 United States Census Bureau, "Cabarrus County, North Carolina," accessed August 1, 2016
  17. National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
  18. North Carolina State Board of Elections, "NC Voter Statistics Results," accessed August 11, 2014