Elections

So far I have the following items on the fall calendar. What other essential campaign events are coming up?

• Mon 9/17, 7 pm: Sierra Club Forum - Carrboro Candidates, Carrboro Town Hall and cable TV access
• Tues 9/18, 7 pm: Sierra Club Forum - Hillsborough Candidates, Gordon Battle Courtroom and cable TV access
• Tues 9/25, 7 pm: Sierra Club Forum - Chapel Hill Candidates, Chapel Hill Town Hall and cable TV access
• Wed 9/26 7 pm: League of Women Voters Forum - Carrboro candidates, Carrboro Town Hall (TV?)
• Wed 10/1 7 pm: League of Women Voters Forum - Chapel Hill candidates, Chapel Hill Town Hall (TV?)
• Tues 10/9, 7 pm: Chamber of Commerce, EmPOWERment, WCHL and Community Action Network Forum - Chapel Hill candidates, Hargraves Community Center
• Wed 10/10, 7 pm: Chamber of Commerce, EmPOWERment, WCHL and Community Action Network Forum - Carrboro candidates, Carrboro Town Hall

At this time a couple years ago there had already been two forums and an endorsement released in the Chapel Hill Town Council race. It's been comparatively quiet this year, although the forum season is about to heat up.

One candidate who to date was pretty much a mystery fired an opening salvo against the Town Council today. Matt Czajkowski had a half page ad in the Chapel Hill News on Sunday which criticized the Council for:

-Lacking a 'true voice' for fiscal responsibility

-Lot 5

-Its unfriendly reputation toward commerical enterprise that 'keeps businesses from even trying to open here.'

-A Franklin Street that is 'nowhere close to what it 'should and can be'

His ad was long on complaints and short on solutions. There was no statement about what his plans would be to deal with any of these problems or what relevant experience he had for fixing them. I would have liked to go to his website to find out but he doesn't seem to have one.

The Orange County Board of Elections will be deciding on Tuesday, August 7th on whether to move the one-stop early voting site from UNC's campus to the Seymour Senior Center off Homestead Road.

We have the following objections to the proposed move:

1. The Seymour Senior Center creates a significant impediment to voting for students, faculty, staff and the many community members that live/work in and around downtown.
2. Moving the site away from campus will adversely impact student engagement in the upcoming election.
3. With the passage of the same-day voter registration bill, more students are likely to vote this fall. Moving the site will hurt these efforts.
4. If we want to encourage students to take an interest or an active role in their community, we should not making voting inaccessible to many who cannot make it to the Seymour Center.
5. Many faculty and staff that work on or near campus benefit from having a central voting site on campus.
6. A better location can be found that will benefit both students and residents of Chapel Hill.