North Carolina: Municipalities and the recall

Only 22 of North Carolina's 552 towns and municipalities allow for recalls. This article discusses Statesville's only recall campaign (this is a follow-up to an earlier piece on that 1963 recall against council members for integrating local pools).

The signature requiement at the time was 25% of turnout in mayoral election, which ended up being 6% of registered voters. In 1984, the changed the law to 25% of registered voters (and, the article mentions eligible voters for non-at large council members).

The largest municipalities with recall elections are Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Combined, the three have an average population more than 307,000.

Troutman, with a 2011 population of 2,409, is the fourth-smallest town with recall elections, behind Topsail Beach (377), Foxfire (913) and Belhaven (1,685).