The newly elected City Council is normally sworn in on the first Tuesday in December following the election on the first Tuesday in November.

However, there is little normal about the 2022 City Council election that was originally scheduled for Nov. 2, 2021, and postponed twice to July 26, 2022.

And for the 2022 City Council election, the swearing in will be the second Thursday in August.  The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11 in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber at city hall.

In the July 26 election, District 3 City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Justin Outling didn’t concede on election night.  Outling waited until the number of absentee, provisional and absentee military ballots could be tallied.

On Monday, Aug. 1 in an email Outling stated, “Based on the small number of provisional, absentee, and absentee military ballots remaining it is apparent that Nancy Vaughan will be reelected mayor of Greensboro.”

Vaughan won the race by 1.3 percent of the vote, and if the margin had been less than 1 percent, Outling could have asked for a recount.  On election night Outling said that he wanted to wait to see if there were enough ballots still uncounted to push him over that threshold.

There was also a challenge to the election filed by Sal Leone based on the campaign signs and material of At-large City Councilmember Hugh Holston.

Holston was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the City Council in September 2021 and his campaign signs read “Re-Elect” Hugh Holston.  Leone argued that since Holston was not elected he could not be re-elected.

Holston finished third in the at-large race in which the top three finishers are elected to the City Council.  He was 554 votes ahead of Katie Rossabi who finished fourth.

Leone said in his challenge that by having “Re-Elect” on his campaign material Holston had confused voters and that had given him an unfair advantage.

On Thursday, Aug. 4, the Guilford County Board of Elections didn’t agree.  The board voted 3-1 to deny the challenge from Leone and certified the results of the election.

 

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