Elections

Howdy, all, and thanks for this very interesting site. I have a process-related question:

The N&O voters' guide says that not only will the top three finishers in the Carrboro Board election be seated as aldermen for the usual four-year terms, but that whoever finishes fourth in this Tuesday's election will also be seated, for a two-year term, when the new mayor is seated.

Can anyone acquainted with election law tell me (and us) whether:
(a) that's correct, or whether
(b) a special election will be held for the unexpired aldermanic term of Mark or Alex, or whether
(c) the seat will be filled by appointment (and, if so, who does the appointing)?

Much obliged,
Mark H. (a newbie)

Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday November 05, 2005

Back in March, Moses Carey articulated an accurate argument against district representation for the County Commissioners.

"Any model that promotes or encourages parochialism will be dysfunctional in this county," Carey said. "Problems don't stop at district lines. Water flows across district lines; economic development doesn't occur all in one district. Narrowing the focus and encouraging people to care only about what happens within the lines of their district is just the opposite of what we need to be encouraging elected officials to do, which is to think more broadly and make decisions that are more broadly based."

But, it turns out that Carey was not arguing against districts per se. He was arguing for a system of districts in which the candidates must live within a district but would be elected by the entire county.

This solution, not surprisingly, does not satisfy residents of the rural sections of the county who feel that the current at-large system does not provide them with adequate representation.

There doesn't seem to be any perfect solution for the funding woes of the Orange County Schools. Is a special district tax “unfair and divisive”? Is it an unnecessary burden on farmers?

IMHO, supporting the district tax referendum is an important opportunity to send our county commissioners a message that Orange County School District residents want more funding for our schools. However, I haven't been willing to say that it's the "best" solution for increasing funding.

After the discussion at last week's referendum information forum, I was left wondering: What if $0.10 in additional funding is the right amount?