Roll Call: Who is voting early? Who is waiting til Nov. 5 (and why?)

Voted today. My usual very close rec center early voting site is usually a quick in and out. But the parking lot has been full all week with a line out to it. Found a lesser known place and walked right up to check in.

Some things I found unusual;

1) There are 5 (I think) on the ballot for Prez. Didn't even know all the others except Stein.

2) My county went back to paper ballots where you fill in the little bubbles. We've had the touch screen digital voting for years. Is this a statewide (NC) thing? Is it for hand recounts? Seems to be going backwards.

3) There was a referendum vote (yes/no) that only legal citizens be allowed to vote. I know this was a Pub posturing ploy on the House floor, since it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote. So how the hell did this end up on the state or local ballot? Of course I entered "yes" but what is the point?

4) In my county, Guilford, there were about 9 different district Court Judge seats up for vote out of 13. There may be more, but seat 13 was the highest I saw. Each seat was listed separately with the following in parenthesis for each seat (you may vote for only one candidate). All 9 or so seats listed had only a Dem listed. Why are only Dems running for District Judge seats? I voted for each seat and each Dem. I hope I didn't do this wrong and invalidate my entire ballot. The machine took it.
 
Kraftyheel89 said:
Voted today. My usual very close rec center early voting site is usually a quick in and out. But the parking lot has been full all week with a line out to it. Found a lesser known place and walked right up to check in.

Some things I found unusual;

1) There are 5 (I think) on the ballot for Prez. Didn't even know all the others except Stein.

2) My county went back to paper ballots where you fill in the little bubbles. We've had the touch screen digital voting for years. Is this a statewide (NC) thing? Is it for hand recounts? Seems to be going backwards.

3) There was a referendum vote (yes/no) that only legal citizens be allowed to vote. I know this was a Pub posturing ploy on the House floor, since it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote. So how the hell did this end up on the state or local ballot? Of course I entered "yes" but what is the point?

4) In my county, Guilford, there were about 9 different district Court Judge seats up for vote out of 13. There may be more, but seat 13 was the highest I saw. Each seat was listed separately with the following in parenthesis for each seat (you may vote for only one candidate). All 9 or so seats listed had only a Dem listed. Why are only Dems running for District Judge seats? I voted for each seat and each Dem. I hope I didn't do this wrong and invalidate my entire ballot. The machine took it.
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1) You could also write in Pat Paulson if you don’t like the 5

2) Touch screen voting has hated us for at least 4 years now… besides, we’re all Luddites at heart.

3) You fell for the ruse

4) ooh, you really messed up now… “only vote for one” and you went and bubbled in all 9. They’ll surely throw your ballot out. But at least you tried to do the right thing. You may have personally given pubs in Guilford county reason to gunk up the works on election night, and NOT certify the vote for the entire State…. AND Nation! Gee thanks.
 
Center, thanks for the response. But seriously, I would genuinely like to know the answer as to why only Dems are running for many open District Court judgeships. Is it just a very strange anomaly, or something as simple as Pubs prefer to remain in private practice where the money is better? Dems love money too.

I also don't remember ever seeing a party listed for judicial seats. Things have changed a lot.
 
Kraftyheel89 said:
Center, thanks for the response. But seriously, I would genuinely like to know the answer as to why only Dems are running for many open District Court judgeships. Is it just a very strange anomaly, or something as simple as Pubs prefer to remain in private practice where the money is better? Dems love money too.

I also don't remember ever seeing a party listed for judicial seats. Things have changed a lot.
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I think state Pubs made a strategic decision not to run candidates for district court races in the more urban counties where they had little chance of winning. Those positions are very important, but they’re generally not political, so I think the GOP didn’t see a benefit that could justify the cost, especially where the odds of winning are low.
 
Kraftyheel89 said:
Center, thanks for the response. But seriously, I would genuinely like to know the answer as to why only Dems are running for many open District Court judgeships. Is it just a very strange anomaly, or something as simple as Pubs prefer to remain in private practice where the money is better? Dems love money too.

I also don't remember ever seeing a party listed for judicial seats. Things have changed a lot.
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State Republicans changed the law more than a decade ago to make judicial races partisan; they had previously been non-partisan. They did so because they thought it would help conservative judges win more judicial races.

As another poster already said, I think it’s a choice by Pubs not to run candidates for these local district court seats, which they will almost certainly lose.

I hope you voted “yes” on the sales tax initiative; the Guilford County schools need that money!
 
Kraftyheel89 said:
Center, thanks for the response. But seriously, I would genuinely like to know the answer as to why only Dems are running for many open District Court judgeships. Is it just a very strange anomaly, or something as simple as Pubs prefer to remain in private practice where the money is better? Dems love money too.

I also don't remember ever seeing a party listed for judicial seats. Things have changed a lot.
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Of course I was being totally facetious - and my usual smart-ass self. No offense. However, others have answered. Pub General Assembly made judgeships all partisan. Also, in your county - perhaps only Dems are running, but in my county (in WNC) it's usually all Pubs running and no Dems. Especially for District Judge, School Board, County Commish, etc.

This is simply because in a deep red county that usually votes 90%+ all PUB, then there is no impetus for any Dems to even throw their hat into the ring. Why waste the money? Same with a deep blue county... why run as a pub when you already know 90%+ of the voters will vote dem?

We need to cut out the severe gerrymandering and implement rank choice voting AND perhaps most importantly, allow Independents and registered unaffiliated candidates to get on the ballot without having to jump through so many hoops - like garnering 27,000,000 signatures on a petition.
 
In the parking lot I was given a pamphlet of names by the Dems . I was grateful because I did not do my due diligence on County commissioners-I am pretty new in Wake County . County Commissioners had no R or D
 
Voted yesterday at a local rec center. Interesting, only Dem reps were out handing out information as I usually see both Dems and Reps distributing information, but my election day voting place is more rural and this was an urban setting. Perhaps Reps are not targeting the urban areas of Forsyth Co. It took about 30 minutes to vote, but the workers said the turnout has been unbelievable. The voting mix of old to young to white to minorities was pretty even. I hope that bodes well for Dems in NC!
 
Kraftyheel89 said:
Center, thanks for the response. But seriously, I would genuinely like to know the answer as to why only Dems are running for many open District Court judgeships. Is it just a very strange anomaly, or something as simple as Pubs prefer to remain in private practice where the money is better? Dems love money too.

I also don't remember ever seeing a party listed for judicial seats. Things have changed a lot.
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In Charlotte and Mecklenburg, Republicans don’t run for city-wide or county-wide office anymore because they have no chance of winning. I’m guessing it’s the same situation in Guilford.

There are many other counties where it’s the opposite.
 
Icky Mettle said:
In Charlotte and Mecklenburg, Republicans don’t run for city-wide or county-wide office anymore because they have no chance of winning. I’m guessing it’s the same situation in Guilford.

There are many other counties where it’s the opposite.
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When I was a kid in CH there was a Republican Insurance guy ( Mr. Tenney ) that ran once or twice for State Insurance commissioner. No chance of winning-but I always thought he was "principled "
 
Calheel said:
California mails you a ballot without asking. It has your name and bar code on it. You fill it out and pop it in your mail box. That is way, way easier than going to a polling place.

If you are a little anal retentive, you fill it out and drop it in a secure ballot box by the public library. Still way, way easier than going to a polling place on Tuesday.
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I can't imagine voting by mail unless there was literally NO other choice, and then I would still be skeptical. And I'm extremely liberal so I'm supposed to be pro-voting by mail. Maybe it's because I live in a deep red state so I don't trust the people in charge to not throw my vote away. There's something at least somewhat reassuring about putting my ballot in the machine myself and seeing the number go up.

Is there something in these mail vote states where I can check online and see that my ballot was received and counted? Not that I'd totally trust it but that would be something.
 
HeelInTheOzarks said:
I can't imagine voting by mail unless there was literally NO other choice, and then I would still be skeptical. And I'm extremely liberal so I'm supposed to be pro-voting by mail. Maybe it's because I live in a deep red state so I don't trust the people in charge to not throw my vote away. There's something at least somewhat reassuring about putting my ballot in the machine myself and seeing the number go up.

Is there something in these mail vote states where I can check online and see that my ballot was received and counted? Not that I'd totally trust it but that would be something.
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Yes you can check and see if it was accepted and counted.
 
mpaer said:
When I was a kid in CH there was a Republican Insurance guy ( Mr. Tenney ) that ran once or twice for State Insurance commissioner. No chance of winning-but I always thought he was "principled "
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Was that Julie and Mark's dad?
 
Thanks for all the responses everyone to my question about only Dems running for District judges.

And rodo, yes, I voted for the small sales tax increase that is supposed to be earmarked (or part of it) for increased teacher pay. I heard about it on a local "neighborhood" message board I don't remember signing up for. Also, since I have kids in school, the school system has sent out emails and voicemails asking for votes. Of course the MAGAs on the message board say vote no, it's a deep state conspiracy and no money goes to schools.

Sorry for digging into minutia, at the local level. But we've spent at least 9 months or more with countless topics about the elections. The bottom line is the only thing that matters is what and who are on ballots, and the actual votes. So pretty important.
 
mpaer said:
When I was a kid in CH there was a Republican Insurance guy ( Mr. Tenney ) that ran once or twice for State Insurance commissioner. No chance of winning-but I always thought he was "principled "
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Was it Rex Tenney? I know his son Mark.
 
I’m voting on November 5th. See no reason to go stand in line to vote early when I can go stand in line and vote on Election Day. Now I’m hoping enough are voting early that it will keep the crowds down on the 5th.
 
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