Census data delays will add six month to terms of New Bern Aldermen newbernsj.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newbernsj.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sun Journal
Like most other aspects of life, city election cycles have been thrown into disarray since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In New Bern, it appears delays in gathering national census data will push municipal elections originally scheduled for this October forward to 2022.
The current Board of Aldermen, as well as Mayor Dana Outlaw, were elected to four-year terms in November 2017 and would normally have served until December of 2021. However, due to COVID-19 related delays in the 2020 U.S. census data, New Bern’s next municipal election will likely be pushed to 2022.
Though plans currently call for the election to be held in March 2022 at the earliest and possibly as late as the following November, a proposal this week by the State Board of Elections would set the following timeline for the state’s 2022 municipal and ward elections: primary election - May 3, runoff - July 12, general election - November 8. While current statutes call for municipal elections