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Monday, June 23, 2008
At 60 bucks a pop, we’d better vote!
Back from vacation just in time for Tuesday’s exciting runoff election! What journalist could stay away from a heart-pounding race of this magnitude? The thrills, the chills, the elevator rides …
Ok, the labor commissioner’s race deserves more respect than that. (You did know that’s the election I was talking about, right?) But it’s having a hard time finding anyone who cares.
Maybe it’s vacation time for everyone else, too. Or maybe voters are so tired of politics they’re ready to talk about the new Indiana Jones movie instead. But as Mike Hixenbaugh reported Monday, fewer than 40 people have cast ballots in early voting in the Twin Counties. Chances are pretty good you won’t face much of a line if you turn out to the polls Tuesday.
That’s a shame because the labor commissioner does carry a heavy load of responsibility in North Carolina. It’s an intriguing race, too - former commissioner John Brooks faces Mary Fant Donnon, who was director of policy research for former commissioner Harry Payne.
Donnon finished first in the May primary with 27.5 percent of the vote. Brooks had 24 percent of the vote.
Some folks have suggested other voting methods to avoid runoffs like this. The idea would be for voters to mark their ballots in order of candidate preference. Ballot counters would then tally up the “scores” to determine who the winning candidate is.
Opponents of that plan say it’s too confusing, and they have a point. Voters have a tough enough time figuring out their first choices in those little-publicized Council of State races. How the heck are we going to decide our third, fourth and fifth choices, too?
Still, Tuesday’s runoff is costing the state a chunk of change for a handful of voters to go to the polls. As Hixenbaugh reported, it’s costing more than $55,000 in the Twin Counties alone - about $60 per vote, if the turnout is 1 percent, as projected.
Is there a better way to hold elections? Tell us what you think. And if there isn’t a better way, then get out there and do your duty!
