2014
Welcome to the open thread for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen Special Election candidate forum happening on April 6, 2014. Comments on this post will open at that time.
There are three candidates for one seat:
- Bethany Chaney
- Talal Asad
- Theresa Watson
You can observe the forum at http://orangepolitics.org/elections-2014/forums/cboa.
We hope you'll use this open thread to post your thoughts and reactions. Also, if you want to propose additional discussion topics, you can reach the editors during the forum via Twitter, Facebook, or the contact page. The forum moderator will have final say in question selection.
This piece originally ran in the Daily Tar Heel as a guest editorial on April 1st.
I believe everyone should vote, and I believe voting should be easy and convenient. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the recent direction that we are going in North Carolina. Last year, the N.C. General Assembly severely restricted the ability of residents to vote. It cut the number of days of early voting, limited the ability of out-of-state students to cast ballots and did away with one-stop registration during early voting.
Today, the State Board of Elections will be deciding whether or not to add another site in Orange County for early voting. Jamie Cox and I issued letters in support of an additional early vote site for Orange County on the UNC campus. Both of us stressed that this is what is better for the county, not for a particular party. However, Chair Kathy Knight struck a decidely partisan tone in her response.
But this isn't about partisanship or politics, it's about fairness, because I don't stand for or support partisanship for political gain. I have previously proposed and supported election sites that members of my own party disagreed with because they believed it could benefit the GOP, but I thought those sites were viable and fair for all of Orange County. What better way to show the legislature that folks of all political persuasions oppose their elections overhaul? What better way to show that local government still works?
Below are the two letters Jamie and I submitted to the State Board, along with BOE Chair Kathy Knight's letter.
OCDP Chair Matt Hughes' Letter
BOE Member Jamie Cox's Letter
BOE Chair Kathy Knight's Letter
Transit, siting the Orange County library's southern branch and land use are all on the docket in Orange County this week. The action this week starts early, with Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stephens delieving his State of the Town address tonight as the Orange County School Board considers a number of initiatives related to technology. Tuesday, the Carrboro Board of Alderpersons will consider changes to the town's land use, while a public input session on the southern branch library will be held at Hickory Tavern.
Later in the week, three of the county's public bodies will hold a joint meeting on land use, the Sierra Club will host a forum for the upcoming primary elections and Chapel Hill Transit will gather feedback on how to best plan for growth in the North-South corridor.
Here are more of the highlights:
The editors of OrangePolitics are excited to announce our live online candidate forums for the upcoming elections for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen Special Election, the Orange County School Board, Orange County Sheriff, and the Orange County Board of Commissioners (Democratic primary).
We are also excited to announce that we will be circulating a brief questionnaire to candidates for Orange County Register of Deeds. We will publish the responses to this questionnaire on OrangePolitics on Wednesday, April 16. We invite the candidates themselves, as well as members of the public, to then use these questionnaire responses to engage in a discussion about the election and the office of Register of Deeds right here on OrangePolitics.
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