Overview:
• Khalil Younger and Robbie Poole dropped out of the elections in August
• Ballots were already printed for the Oct. 7 primary elections, so their names will be on the ballots
• Since the candidates have officially dropped out, votes cast for them will not count
• Now three people have dropped out. Erique “Ranger Rick” Murillo dropped out earlier in August
Two more people have dropped out of the November Fayetteville City Council election, Cumberland County Elections Director Angie Amaro told CityView on Tuesday.
Khalil Younger, who was running for the District 7 seat, and Robbie Poole, who was running for the District 8 seat, withdrew around August 19, Amaro said. District 7 covers much of western Fayetteville along the Raeford Road/U.S. 401 corridor. District 8 includes western Fayetteville neighborhoods north and west of Cliffdale Road, plus base housing areas on Fort Bragg. (Part of Fort Bragg is inside the Fayetteville city limit.)
With Younger and Poole out, three candidates have withdrawn from this year’s Fayetteville City Council elections. District 5 candidate Enrique “Ranger Rick” Murillo withdrew on August 14 amid intense criticism surrounding past criminal charges. He pleaded guilty in 2012 to a reduced charge of assault following an accusation of sexual assault.
Younger and Poole will remain on the October 7 primary ballots, which were already printed.
State law says that if a candidate on the ballot has withdrawn yet gets enough votes to be nominated for the general election, any votes for that candidate will be disregarded. The candidate receiving the next highest number of votes will get the nomination.
Absentee ballots will start being mailed to voters on Friday, September 5, and early voting for the primary starts on September 18.
Efforts to contact Younger for this article were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
Poole previously told CityView that personal and professional matters led him to withdraw his candidacy for the District 8 seat.
These are the remaining candidates for the District 7 and District 8 city council elections:
- District 7: Dwight France, J’Kwan Fulmore, Kathy A. Greggs, and incumbent Brenda McNair.
- District 8: Rodney E. Garvin, Mahmoud A. (Travis) Hamed, and Shaun McMillan. Incumbent Courtney Banks-McLaughlin originally filed for reelection; on July 18 she changed her candidacy from District 8 to run for mayor.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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