Ruby Sinreich's blog

Have you noticed how many more slick campaign mailers you have been getting? There's a noticeable change in the last few election cycles. I know that elections generally get more expensive over time, but I'm concerned that the increased use of conventional political consultants is making our local campaigns more expensive and less grassroots. This can't be good for promoting civic engagement, and might even lead to less honesty in campaigns. I could go on, but I'll just say that I'm not happy about the impact of some of these paid consultants on our local races.

I know a lot of you will be volunteering in various electoral capacities on Tuesday, we'll have an open thread for you to post your reports of what's going on around town. We'll also post any news updates we get from the local Board of Elections there. That thread will open along with the polling places at 6:30 am.

And after the polls close (7:30 pm) The Town of Carrboro has invited us to come watch the returns. As usual, Carrboro is the place to be!

Area residents are encouraged to come downtown to watch election returns starting at 7:30pm. Carrboro restaurants and bars will be offering various drink and food specials. As of press time participating restaurants and bars include the Orange County Social Club, Acme Food and Beverage, Tyler's, and The Spotted Dog. In addition to drink and food specials, these establishments will all provide TV coverage of election returns.

I heard that 'The State of Things' would be discussing local elections today at noon. Check it out, you can even call in during the show at 877-962-9862 (toll free).

I want to give a quick shout out to WUNC for finally archiving their shows online and adding an MP3 stream to their online broadcast. Both of these things make their programs more accessible, although it would also be nice if they would provide archives of some of their previous programs as well (hint).

I'm also glad to see that WUNC added a very insightful show, On Point to the daily schedule. If you are already paying a lot of attention to news and are growing tired of repetitive national headlines, this show offers a deeper listen into what's going on. I enjoyed their pre-debate analysis of the presidential candidates and interviews with fundamentalist christians at the GOP convention.