Why...

I'm with Maria et al. on the subject of glossy paper. Too much from the candidate who lost my vote on account of it.

# 185 at Carrboro shortly after 10:00.

Ruby, would you like to borrow my car? Free delivery.

While my decision to take a hiatus from local politics for awhile was deliberate as I work through the gruelling process of getting my course work out of the way in pursuit of my Ph.D. I am still stopped on the streets or receive emails or phone calls to get my opinion on Orange County politics. Case and point, I just hung up on a call from a relative who moved back to Chapel Hill several months ago and wanted to know for whom she should cast her coveted vote. Putting my disenchantment with our so called democratic process and utter disgust and frustration with our political leaders (if you can call them that) on both sides of the "political isle" aside, I steered her to the endorsements of the Indepenent Weekly for Orange County as her guide.

After settling that important matter she asked a question that I really wasn't prepared to answer: "Some of these people I know because they were in office when I left. What have they done lately to help the black and poor people in Orange County?" Ouch.....You know, the folk she was referring to, Verla, Joe, Ellie, David and Carl...I like them as well. But other than my personal experiences and knowledge about things in the distant past, I was hard pressed to come up with concrete examples of policies or legislation that I could point too (of course with the exception of Carl Fox whose position as a judge does not warrant the same kind of scrutiny). Now this of course could be a matter of me simply not following the issues or their agendas as a result of my hiatus. I don't know but I sure am going to start asking. Gone are the days of simply voting just because we personally like the candidates...the question has got to be regardless of poltiical party affiliation...what have you done for my community lately?!

347 votes at 11:20 at the fire station on Weaver Dairy. The portable building was so packed with voters that election workers were forcing people at the end of the check-in line to stand outside in the rain (which they were doing).

I'll join you all in a stroll down memory lane... I first voted when I was a freshman at UNC in 1991. I thought it was pretty cool that I could vote for fellow student even though I had no idea who he was. I also remember being glad to cast a vote for Joe Herzenberg, who, along with Mark, won that year. (Though was Joe H running for re-election? Hmm.)

Anyway, this morning at 8:20 or so, my ballot was number 69 at Carrboro Elementary, with a short line of folks waiting. Outside were folks for Stein and Baddour (Duncan, was that you?).

144 at Town Hall

I remember my first election in N. Carolina. It wa 1984 and is seemd certian that Reagen would win but I wanted to cast a vote in the Helms-Hunt race. I was living in Greenville where I went to school but registered in Palmico County so I rode down there to vote. I got in around 4:00pm and they were so glad to see me. I was the last registered voter in that location to show up; so instead of waiting till 7:00 to go home they left when I voted. 100% turn out. That's a far cry from where I vote now. I'll be there today; rain or shine

Is weather really a factor, or just something for the media to talk about on the morning of Election Day? Someone has tried to figure that out. Read more here:

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/03/Worldandnation/Democrats_hope_rain__.s...

152 at the Lion's Club around 9:30 with no waiting.

One large sign, one chair with ads in plastic bag and two people with umbrellas for one candidate. Took advantage of the opportunity to complain loudly to the campaign folks about receiving mail from them DAILY for a week solid.

Obviously, it would be cutting off my nose to spite my face, but I was so disgusted with my inundation by shiny glossy marketing materials that I was really tempted not to vote for a judge at all.
Every single one of the campaigns needs to plant a tree for every pound of paper they used.

Ruby, I'll ask my weather and climate professor about the propensity for it to rain on Election Day. I'll also ask him why he must give a midterm today as it makes it much more difficult for students who procrastinate both on early voting and studying to make it to the polls.

I stood in line to vote at 6:40. It was nice to see a healthy turnout early in the day. I think I was voter 20 or so at my precinct at Weaver Dairy.

WCOM will be having coverage and analysis of local races (interspesed with Triangle Slim's musical selections) at 103.5 FM this evening from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. Please tune in and call in with your own comments at 929-9601.

I'll be in Carrboro at the polls, if anyone wants to come over and say hi or punch me in the face. (Jane Stein gets a free punch.)

d

I'm enjoying the first Election Day in a few years where I got to sleep the night before. Granted, it was about fours hours less than I usually do, but I still count it as sleeping and not mere napping. Now, off to set up what I claim to be a 43,000 piece canopy tent at the First Baptist Church here in Northside to keep myself and the other Democratic poll workers a little less wet today.