The following is the audio of the Catawba County Board of Elections meeting of July 3, 2012. During this meeting the Hickory Ward Specific voting petition was certified. According to people I have spoken with this is the first successful petition to be brought to a referendum in the history of Catawba County, therefore this is a historic event in the history of Catawba County.
This is serious business and the City of Hickory must act upon the will of the people. There will be a special election upon this referendum. This election cannot take place until a minimum of 60 days have passed and at a maximum of 120 days after the certification and delivery of documents to the City of Hickory. City Manager Mick Berry was present and accepted and signed the document. Two more issues are that this election must take place at least 30 days prior to any Statewide or Federal Elections and the City must provide 45 days notice prior to the scheduled date of the special election, but this 45 days does not include the early voting period that is a prerequisite to any election in the State of North Carolina and is to be held two weeks prior to the scheduled election date.
In the presentation, the issue is discussed and approved from the beginning to the 6:20 mark of the audio and then the Board moves onto other business and then comes back to the discussion of the issue at the 24:05 mark and discusses the election process and other matters involving the referendum until adjournment at around the 38:45 mark. So in essence the full discussion of this issue takes a little over 20 minutes.
