November 2003
It's the day after Halloween and even though I was downtown 'til past midnight I went running early and other than the people who were still up there weren't many others about..........I found two cell phones, many shoes (no pairs), pieces of costumes, diapers and lots of beer bottles. I find that either "lite" beer drinkers litter more than traditionally caloric beer drinkers or "lite" beer has taken over the market; yet another sign of the distressing decay of the IQ level in our society.........I digress, I guess.........Four more days 'til this election is over. What I want to know is: who is going to win and why? If you post the right answer here, just think of the glory! The world will be your bivalve!
This seems to be an unfortunate first in Chapel Hill elections. The Daily Tarheel reports that Dianne Bachman, that paragon of moral purity, has run ads attacking Cam Hill for insinuating that she might not be totally fair when it comes to decisions about UNC development.
A few ridiculous things about this:
Just in from Carrboro --
Someone is running around town defacing Joal Broun's (incumbent candidate for Alderman) signs claiming she is, among other things, for high-rises, high-taxes, and against affordable housing and is a friend of developers.
Can someone explain this? Who would do this? Putting the merits aside, Broun is likely to be #1 in the vote tally. If a challenger is responsible, one would expect them to go after a weaker candidate.
On to the merits…Broun has been Carrboro’s most outspoken advocate for affordable housing . . . one of the most outspoken officials in the county! And as for building heights and taxes – they all voted for new heights (except for Gist) and Broun is one of Carrboro’s biggest tax impact sticklers during the annual budget process.
I predict these tactics backfire and Broun is the #1 in Carrboro.
Polls are open from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm today. Here are some links to resources at the Orange County Board of Elections.
It's good to see the Board of Elections has partially gotten their website together. In the past, the process of getting the returns was clumsy at best. Now, presumably, you can go to this page and watch things happen after the polls close.
Find your precinct. (That page isn't nearly as helpful as it should be.)
This is neat, they also have voter registration statistics for each precinct. That should make post-election analysis even more fun.
I just voted at Hargraves and then walked down Franklin Street from the Post Office to the Carrboro town line shortly after lunchtime. I didn't see a single person with an "I Voted" sticker. I did have a number of people speak to me because of my sticker: a few friends asked who to vote for, one woman in a minivan asked me for directions to her pollsite, and I was interviewed for WCHL's "On The Street" program. (Listen for that on 1360AM tomorrow at 7:39am, 12:39pm, 4:39pm, or 5:39pm.)
The papers all say they expect low turnout. I don't get why they think it would be lower this year than others. If anything, I would think Big Merger Madness (thanks Jay) and the deluge of Town Council candidates would bring more voters out this year. The poll workers said I was voter number 78 so far. According to the Board of Elections, there are 1,479 in my precinct (Northside) - so they may be right. Time will tell...
Enfranchisement and its dissing is an interesting problem. Consult the Federalist Papers and you will learn that the Founding Fathers were concerned about the "tyranny of the majority" under a pure democracy which might lord it over (or disenfranchise) a minority that nonetheless had the vote. Of course, the minority they were concerned with were the wealthy people who owned the country ("The people who own the country ought to govern it"--Hamilton). Today, we see that they crafted the system very well as 215 years later the wealthy remain firmly in charge.
The situation in Carrboro could be very similar to that feared by the Federalists in terms of the nature of the majority and who it is tyrannizing over.
...the people of Orange County! Sorry for the cheese, it's been a good night.
So here's your quick-and-dirty results, for much much more info check the Board of Elections site (which was a huge flop on election night, but is back up now).
CHAPEL HILL:
Town Council: Sally Greene, Bill Strom, Cam Hill, Jim Ward
Mayor: Kevin Foy
Bonds: Yes on all 5
CARRBORO:
Board of Aldermen: Mark Chilton, Joal Broun, Alex Zaffron
Mayor: Mike Nelson
Bond: Yes
SCHOOL BOARD: Elizabeth Carter, Ed Sechrest, Michael Kelley, Gloria Faley
What does this election truly tell us in Carrboro/Chapel Hill and what do folks think is going to happen first in the Chapel Hill Council and Board of Alderfolk?
To continue the discussion started in this thread about about endorsements and this thread about the school board race, let's discuss the politics of education in southern Orange County.
Many people including the local NAACP have long complained about the stratification in our schools, asserting that there are really two systems: one for affluent and/or gifted children and another for low-income and/or African-American students. (I know everyone doesn't fall into these categories, please allow me this generalization for the sake of discussion.)
Just got this Carolina North update from Tony Waldrop in my e-mail:
You will recall that the four Carolina North Advisory Groups which comprise the Carolina North Advisory Committee met during the first half of 2003, with each Advisory Group issuing a report of recommended planning principles and criteria to the Carolina North Executive Committee. That input has been used to develop a DRAFT concept plan for Carolina North. As planned, we will present this draft concept plan to the full Advisory Committee first.
Thus, we are pleased to invite you to attend the Carolina North Advisory Committee presentation of the DRAFT conceptual plan for Carolina North on Tuesday, December 2, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the Friday Center.
I don't know if this is a public meeting. Probably not.
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