North Carolina Primary – May 6

from staff reports

May 6 will be a big day for North Carolina voters; for the first time in many years state voters are likely to have an impact on the presidential campaign — at least on the Democratic side. Senator John McCain has locked up the Republican nomination, though it won’t become official until September. But two senators, Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, are still locked in a tight race for the Democratic nod.

First-term Senator
Elizabeth Dole faces a primary challenge from a fellow Republican in
her campaign for reelection, and five Democrats are vying for the
opportunity to challenge her in November. Congressman Heath Shuler
faces no primary opposition, so his name doesn’t appear on the May 6
ballot, but Republican and independent voters will choose one of three
candidates hoping to unseat him in the fall.

State Races

But it’s not just at the Federal level that the primary vote matters.
There are active races for North Carolina’s Governor, Lieutenant
Governor and the rest of the Council of State, along with two seats on
the state Court of Appeals. And Buncombe County voters get to choose
among a plethora of candidates running for the County Commission.

To vote in the primary, though, you have to be registered. If you’re
not registered to vote by the April 11 deadline, you can still register
AND vote during One-Stop absentee voting, which begins Thursday, April
17 and ends Saturday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m.
The State Board of Elections has printed 3,650,000 copies of its 2008
Primary Voter Guide — about one for every three residents in the state.
The guide is slightly incomplete, however; it doesn’t list any
candidates for state Treasurer, though three are running in the
Democratic primary, including Buncombe County Commissioner David Young.

For detailed information about voting in North Carolina and the state races and candidates, visit the
NC Board of Elections web site at www.sboe.state.nc.us, or phone (919)
713-7173 for information about your county’s ballot listings.

Independent and Affiliated Voters

If you register with a political party, you may vote ONLY in the
primary of that party. Registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic
primary, and registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary.
But anyone who registers as an Independent (unaffiliated) voter may
vote in either primary. (Alternatively, an unaffiliated voter may
choose the nonpartisan primary ballot, which allows a vote only for the
nonpartisan judicial races.)

To get more information about voting in Buncombe County, you can visit
the web site of the county Board of Elections at
www.buncombecounty.org/ governing/depts/Election/ or call the BOE at
(828) 250-4200. Or go to the office at 189 College Street, one block
east of the County Courthouse.

As always, the big question for interested voters is: Who’s running for
what? In the hope that our readers will get out and vote in record
numbers this year, we’ve prepared an overview of the races and the
candidates. Following the guidance of the Buncombe County Board of
Elections, we’ve tried to list the races and candidates in the same
order as they’ll appear on the ballot.

2008 NC Primary Ballot

The races for the North Carolina Court of Appeals are nonpartisan, so
ALL registered voters may vote for the candidates of their choice. A
nonpartisan race doesn’t necessarily mean that a candidate is
unaffiliated with any party, however. Often voters can figure out a
candidate’s likely party affiliation by the endorsements and
associations he or she highlights in voter guides and in their campaign
literature or web sites. Some candidates are blatant about their
partisan affiliations; others maintain the appearance, and sometimes
the reality, of nonpartisanship.

There are two nonpartisan seats on the Court of Appeals, each with an
incumbent judge; every voter may vote for one candidate for each seat.

Nonpartisan Primary Races

NC Court of Appeals

(vote for one candidate)

Jewel Ann Farlow
Dean R. Poirier
James A. (Jim) Wynn (incumbent)

NC Court of Appeals
(vote for one candidate)

Sam J. Ervin, IV
Janet Pueschel
Kristin Ruth
John M. Tyson (incumbent)

Partisan Primary Races

All other races are partisan: Democrats may vote only in the Democratic
primary, Republicans only in the Republican primary. Independent voters
may vote in either primary.

President of the United States

Hillary Clinton
Mike Gravel
Barack Obama
No preference

US Senate

Kay Hagan
Duskin C. Lassiter
Jim Neal
Howard Staley
Marcus W. Williams

NC Governor

Richard H. Moore
Dennis Neilsen
Bev Perdue

NC Lieutenant Governor

Walter H. Dalton
Hampton Dellinger
Pat Smathers
Dan Besse

NC State Auditor

Beth A. Wood
Fred Aikens

NC Commissioner of Insurance

Wayne Goodwin
David C. Smith

NC Commissioner of Labor

Mary Fant Donnan
Ty Richardson
Robert Anderson
John C. Brooks

NC Superintendent of Public Instruction

Eddie Davis
June St. Clair Atkinson (incumbent)

NC Treasurer

Janet Cowell
Michael Weisel
David Young

Buncombe County Commission

(vote for up to four)
K. Ray Bailey
Cecil Bothwell
Vernon E. Dover
J. Ray Elingburg
Robert E. (Bob) Hill
Holly Jones
Carol Weir Peterson (incumbent)
William H. (Bill) Stanley (incumbent)
Keith Thomson

President of the United States

Mike Huckabee
Alan Keyes
John McCain
Ron Paul
No preference

US Senate

Pete Di Lauro
Elizabeth Dole (incumbent)

US Congress District 11

John C. Armor
Spence Campbell
Carl Mumpower

NC Governor

Bill Graham
Pat McCrory
Robert F. (Bob) Orr
E. Powers
Fred Smith

NC Lieutenant Governor

Timothy Cook
Greg Dority
Robert Pittenger
Jim Snyder

NC Superintendent of  Public Instruction

Joe Johnson
Richard Morgan
Eric H. Smith

Buncombe County Commission

(vote for up to four)
Steve Bledsoe
John Carroll
Joe Dunn
Michael Fryar
Ron McKee
Don Yelton

Asheville Senior Opportunity Center
36 Grove Street
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Biltmore Square Mall

800 Brevard Rd
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Board of Elections
189 College St
Hours 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Carver Community Center
101 Carver Ave
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Fairview Library
1 Taylor Road
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Leicester Library
1561 Alexander Rd
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

North Asheville Library
1030 Merrimon Ave
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

South Buncombe Library
260 Overlook Rd
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Weaverville Town Hall
30 South Main St
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

West Asheville Library
942 Haywood Rd
Hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.