An early-voting briefing

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Early voting kicks off today across the state.

If you’re all about marking the ballot for the candidates specifically blessed by the GOP, here’s a good guide for you to follow. (Local races apply to Moore County, and parts of Hoke and Lee counties.) 

If you’re like us, you’re pretty disgusted with what’s being offered on this year’s ballot.  Well, we’ve found a few bright spots to give you something to actually VOTE FOR. 

Statewide.   It would take a parting-of-the-Red-Sea Dewey-defeats-Truman style miracle for Michael Whatley to pull off a win for  US Senate.  It can be argued that the same thing applies to Sarah Stevens in the Supreme Court race.

But there are three GOPers running for the state Court of Appeals who have a real good chance of winning.  One we want to call your attention to is Michael Byrne.  He is an experienced, respected judge who adds some intellectual heft that conservatives in this state have been yearning for and sorely missing. This guy is a game-changer.  We’ve got to get him across the finish line.

There are also three constitutional amendments on the ballot. WRAL, the N&O and the rest of the drive-by bed-wetters have been crying about them, so you know they must be pretty good.  The amendments are for: requiring ID to vote in North Carolina, capping the state income tax rate, and capping property taxes.     Vote FOR on all three.   They all limit government’s power.  And that’s always a good thing. 

For our friends in western North Carolina – specifically the 11th congressional district (currently represented by creepy Chuck Edwards) –  you need to show up for Jennifer Balkcom.  She’s a Republican running to replace the scandal-tarred Edwards.  Balkcom got tossed into the mix at a very late date.  Though, she’s proven herself as a good public servant in Raleigh.  She strikes us as a lot like the kind of person we want to see more of in government. 

Local Stuff.   What follows applies to folks living in the Sandhills region – specifically Moore, Lee, and Hoke counties.

Kim Davis (R) – a tough, veteran prosecutor – is on the ballot for state District Court for Moore and Hoke counties.  She is facing off against a soft-on-crime Josh Stein appointee apparently named after an old Disney movie.  Be sure to take care of Mrs. Davis at the polls. 

There is also a competitive race for Moore County Board of Education that’s bordered on down-right vicious.  There are two at-large seats up for grabs as well as one for District 3.   We recommend Jim Pedersen (R) for one of the at-large seats.  We recommend Chris Steiner for the District 3 seat.

Both are military veterans and parents of former Moore County Schools students.  Both favor shifting more money out of the bureaucracy and into the classrooms.  Both favor increasing the influence of parents and the community while decreasing the influence of central office bureaucrats.

Election Day is November 3.