Elections
News and opinions related to local elections.
In the coming months the Orange County BOE will be setting the
early voting plan for the 2014 election cycle. Since there have been
issues with the Rams' Head one-stop site, we are looking for alternatives for
an early voting location that will serve Chapel Hill, and the campus community
in particular.
Keeping in mind that certain factors -- parking, ADA compliance,
internet access, the ability to secure the ballot box, etc. -- are mandated by
statute, we would appreciate your input about sites that would best serve the
students, faculty, staff and residents during the abbreviated 2014 early voting
period.
While we all mourn the loss of Morehead Planetarium as a one-stop
site, that facility has been repurposed by the University and is no longer
available to us, so we need your help in finding somewhere that can be just as
successful.
With another Election Day behind them, our elected officials in Orange County are now tasked to turn their attention from the challenges of the campaign trail to the challenges of governing. But following a sleepy election cycle in which all mayoral candidates ran unopposed and election results show most races were uncompetitive across the county, what message should our electeds take with them as they prepare to take their seats at the dais for new sessions?
With just 11.72% of eligible voters casting ballots in 2013, it’s unclear what message voters are sending. Was municipal turnout its lowest in over 10 years because voters simply don’t see any local issues directly affecting their lives? If so, does that mean voters are content with the status quo of the towns, which is why they didn’t get to the polls in the first place? Or are voters simply apathetic and nothing more can be discerned from the low turnout figure?
I came in 6th in almost all precincts. I came in 2nd in the precinct where Sally Greene and I live. It looks like the write-ins for town council were very minimal. Today I have been busy collecting yard signs and taking them to Cedar Falls Park. While I was there sorting the signs, a woman came by and talked. She did not vote yesterday first because she could not find information about the election and secondly because she thought she could vote on Tuesday at the Senior Center. In terms of signs Maria Palmer and I have the union label on the signs and Sally Greene had the name of a local company on hers. About half of us used plastic and half used paper. (Two candidates had no signs.)At the polling sites George, Maria, James, Ignacio and I had the most signs. Amy and Sally managed to include their Daily Tar Heel endorsement (given early election day morning) on some of their signs. Maria listed her Indy Endorsement and George listed all of his. I had my AFL-CIO and Sierra Club endorsements on my precinct signs. My son Carl told me he had never heard of the AFL-CIO until I mentioned to him my endorsement from them in September.
Let us know what you're seeing at the polls, chatter about the candidates, where the parties are toight, etc.
Our main question about today is: Low voter turnout, or lowest voter turnout?
I've had to remove several comments on the endorsements thread as they were not in fact endorsements. But I'm certainly interested in what y'all have to say, even the snarky stuff.
The Chapel Hill Town Council race is an interesting contest this year with two incumbents and four strong challengers running for only four seats. In the past we had a "Pundit of the Year" contest to see who could best predict the results. We'll be a little less formal this year and just throw our educated guesses out there.
For example, I think Sally Greene will come in strong and that Ed Harrison will continue to hold on to his Council seat. I think George Cianciolo will have broad support, and I see a tight race between Maria Palmer and Amy Ryan for the last spot. I'm not sure which one of those will win, it may depend on who campaigns harder, and I don't have a sense of which that would be.
Let us know who you think SHOULD win in the endorsement thread, and who you think WILL (or won't) win right here.
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