Your Vote, Your Voice, Your Future
The right to vote must be especially important to people who have had to fight especially hard to win it. The Civil War and Reconstruction Amendments gave African Americans the right to vote, but it took another century and thousands of deaths to put the guarantees into practice. Women struggled for more than 70 years between the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848 and the ratification of the Susan B. Anthony Amendment in 1920. Other ethnic groups, laborers in “company towns,” and residents of inner city political machines and rural fiefdoms alike have had their votes stolen, suppressed, changed, or revoked.
Informed voters, choosing candidates wisely, are the highest validation of the struggles of our forebears.
Local, state, and national officials
Every election is important, and this year the outcome can determine whether the president’s agenda will succeed or fail. We’re electing a U.S. senator and representative, both of whom will have a voice and a vote. There are also partisan contests for state representatives and senators, the district attorney and sheriff. Voters should look at each candidate’s platform, philosophy, personal background, and personality to decide whom to support.
Nonpartisan races
Buncombe County residents also elect school board members—on a nonpartisan basis. This year three district seats have elections: Enka (two candidates), Erwin (one candidate, unopposed), and Reynolds (three candidates). There are also four nonpartisan candidates for two seats on the Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District.
We also elect judges to the District Court, Superior Court, N.C. Court of Appeals, and State Supreme Court. Judicial races, too, are nonpartisan, and the State Board of Elections mails every household a brochure in which judicial candidates write about themselves—their biographies, résumés, and political philosophies.
Study the candidates
Despite the official nonpartisanship, many judicial candidates hint at their party affiliation by listing endorsements and using “code words.” Many Democratic jurists believe in a “living Constitution,” while Republicans support what they call “the original intent” of the Constitution’s signers and make their party affiliation known by asserting that they “will not legislate from the bench,” believe in “original intent” and “judicial restraint,” or “oppose judicial activism.” Thus it’s important to visit candidates’ websites and read their statements of judicial philosophy.
Partisan Races
The candidates on the ballot in 2010 are listed. The N.C. House and Senate races you get to vote on will depend on where you live; all voters get to vote in all other races.
US Senate
Elaine Marshall (Democrat)
Richard Burr (Republican)
Michael Beitler (Libertarian)
US House District 11
Heath Shuler (D) – Jeff Miller (R)
NC Senate District 48
Chris Dixon (D) – Tom Apodaca (R)
NC Senate District 49
Martin L. Nesbitt (D) – R. L. Clark (R)
NC House District 114
Susan C. Fisher (D) – John Carroll (R)
NC House District 115
Patsy Keever (D) – Mark Crawford (R)
NC House District 116
Jane Whilden (D) – Tim Moffitt (R)
Buncombe County District Attorney
– Ron Moore (D)
– Bridgette D. Odom (R)
Buncombe County Clerk of Superior Court
– Steven Cogburn (D)
– John R. Sutton, Jr. (R)
Buncombe County Sheriff
Van Duncan (D) – Dickie Green (R)
Nonpartisan Races
NC Supreme Court
Robert C. “Bob” Hunter
— www.judgebobhunter.org
Barbara Jackson
— www.judgebarbarajackson.com
Court of Appeals – Calabria seat
Ann Marie Calabria
— www.judgecalabria.com
Jane Gray
— www.judgejanegray.com
Court of Appeals – Elmore seat
Rick Elmore
— www.judgeelmore.com
Steven Walker
— www.walkerforcoa.com
Court of Appeals – Geer seat
Martha Geer
— www.judgemarthageer.com
Dean R. Poirer
— www.Poirier4justice.com
Court of Appeals – Steelman Seat
Sanford L. Steelman, Jr.
— www.judgesteelman.org
Court of Appeals – open seat
This open seat has 13 candidates running, and the state is letting voters mark their first, second, and third choices, avoiding a runoff election if no candidate gets a majority.
On the ballot, you simply mark the name of your first choice candidate in the first column, your second choice in column two, and third choice in column three. I agree with the judicial philosophy of five of the candidates, in almost any order. The candidates are:
John F. Bloss
— www.johnblossforjudge.com
J. Wesley Casteen
— www.casteen.org
Chris Dillon
— www.dillonforjudge.com
Jewel Ann Farlow
— www.farlowforjudge.com
Daniel E. Garner
— www.GarnerforJudge.com
Stan Hammer
— www.hammerforjudge.com
Mark E. Klass
— www.voteklass.com
Doug McCullough
— citizensforjudgemccullough.com
Anne Middleton
— www.middletonforjudge.com
Harry E. Payne — no website, but a candidate statement found at: www.indyweek.com/indyweek/harry-e-payne-jr/Content?oid=1687395
John Sullivan — no website
Cressie Thigpen
— www.JudgeCressieThigpen.com
Pamela Vesper
— www.votevesper.com
Superior Court Seat 1
Alan Thornburg
— www.thornburgforjudge.com
Kate Dreher
— www.electkate2010.com
Superior Court Seat 2
Marvin Pope — www.judgepope.com
Heather Whitaker Goldstein
— heatherforsuperiorcourtjudge.com
Diane K. McDonald — no website
District Court (Barrett Seat)
Sharon Barrett (unopposed)
District Court (Brown Seat)
Shirley H. Brown
— www.judgeshirleybrown.com
John Jay Watson — no website, but a candidate statement found at: www.unctv.org/election/candidates/district_court/district_court_28_watson.html
District Court (Cash Seat)
Julie M. Kepple (unopposed)
— www.julieforjudgecampaign.com
District Court (Knight Seat)
Rebecca Knight (unopposed)
— no website
District Court (Young Seat)
Rhonda Moorfield
— www.moorefield2010.com
Patricia Kaufmann Young
— www.re-electjudgeyoung.com
Board of Education Enka
Bob Rhinehart — no website
Nathan Taylor — no website
Board of Education Erwin
Pat Bryant (unopposed)
Board of Education Reynolds
Lisa C. Baldwin
— www.electlisabaldwin.com
Henry D. Mitchell
— electmitchellschooolboard.com
Chuck Radford
— www.electchuckradford.com
Soil & Water Conservation Commission
Alan Ditmore
Chase Hubbard
Elise Israel (incumbent)
Jeff Turner (incumbent)
