Polk County Democrats

Links: Judges and Non-partisan   Constitutional Amendment  Special Judicial Election  Post-Mortem

2010 Election Page

The 2010 election is now over, and the results and additional comments follow.

Election Date

Election day itself is November 2, 2010.  However, polkdemocrats.com recommends that you not wait for election day, but rather vote absentee (see here), which you can do now, or vote early (see here), which begins October 14.

Polling Places

Click here for the Precinct Polling Places.

Election Ballot

The sample ballot is now available online.  Just click here, then click on any of the seven download links (one for each precinct, all are the same) and you'll have an exact replica of the voting screens you'll see on the machines during early voting or on election day.

Pocket Ballots

Our handy "pocket ballots" are now ready for distribution, and be sure to pick one up before you go to vote.  They're available at the HQ and at all party events.  The pocket ballots list the competitive offices up for election, and identify the Democrats for each.  That's particularly valuable for the non-partisan offices, where the political affiliation is not shown on the ballot itself.  Don't go to vote without one.

Offices Up For Election

This is a mid-term election, and there are actually very few partisan races being contested.  Two of our regional offices, State Representative and District Attorney, are uncontested, as are most of our local non-partisan races.  There aren't many decisions to be made.

The offices up for election this year are listed below:

Statewide Offices

Our only statewide office up for election is that of US Senator for North Carolina, with incumbent Republican Richard Burr facing Democrat Elaine Marshall (Website here).  There is also a Libertarian candidate on the ballot, Michael Beitler.

Results: Elaine Marshall lost pretty badly, 55-43, and lost in Polk County as well.  That was in keeping with the Republican tide in this cycle, and was no surprise. 

(See a footnote about this seat, here.)

Regional Offices

US Congressman for the 11th District, with incumbent Democrat Heath Shuler facing Republican Jeff Miller.  Heath Shuler's website is here.

Results: Heath won pretty convincingly, 54-46, which is a relief no matter how much we disagree with his conservatism on some of our core issues.  Any Republican would be 10 times worse.  Heath lost in Polk County, though: 51-49.

NC Senator for the 48th District, consisting of Polk and Henderson Counties, plus that part of Buncombe County south of I-40.  Incumbent Republican Tom Apodaca is facing Democrat Chris Dixon (Website here.).

Results: Chris Dixon lost badly, 66-34, but not for lack of effort; Henderson County is hideously Republican, an almost insurmountable barrier for Chris or any Democrat, and all of us think the world of him and are grateful for all the time he spent in Polk County. 

NC Representative for the 113th District, consisting of Polk and Transylvania Counties, and part of Henderson County.  Incumbent Republican David Guice is running unopposed.

Results: Guice, obviously.

District Attorney for District 29B, with incumbent Republican Jeff Hunt running unopposed.

Results: Hunt.

Local Offices

Polk County Board of Commissioners, with three seats up for election, those of Democratic incumbent Ray Gasperson, and Independent incumbents Tommy Melton and Warren Watson.  All are seeking re-election.

Democrats Ray Gasperson (828-894-8508, e-mail), Margaret Johnson (828-894-0539, e-mail), and Benny Smith (828-894-5156) prevailed in our primary and were on the ballot.  Be sure to support all three during the campaign, and of course vote for them.  Theirs are the first three names on the ballot.

The Republican slate for Commissioner is the MOP repeat of 2008: David Moore, Ted Owens, and Tom Pack.

Independent incumbents Tommy Melton and Warren Watson have submitted the required number of signatures and their names will also be on the November ballot as unaffiliated candidates.

Results: It was very, very close, but in the end we lost two of the three.  Ray Gasperson was our winning candidate, finishing some 200 votes behind the top vote-getter, Ted Owens.  Ray thus wins a 4-year term and can take a breather in 2012.  Tom Pack won the 2-year term, losing to Ray by what by Ray's standards is a landslide: 36 votes.  Never mind, Ray won and, with continuing Commissioners Cindy Walker and Renee McDermott, we will keep the Board under Democratic Control.

Benny Smith and Margaret Johnson came up short on the votes, but never in our admiration or high regard.  polkdemocrats.com salutes them and all our candidates; they are why we care so much about elections.

Tommy Melton and Warren Watson finished dead last, embarrassing for them, really, and so those sad episodes are now behind us.  The voters have the final word, and they gave it forcefully.   

Polk County Sheriff, with incumbent Democrat Donald Hill facing Republican Nathan Shields.

Result: Donald, in a laugher, 65-35.  He's the only one remotely surprised by that.  

Polk County Clerk of Court, with incumbent Democrat Charlene Owens, deservedly, running unopposed.

Results: Right. Congratulations to our new grandma.

Non-Partisan Offices

Non-partisan offices are those considered administrative in nature and not involved with public debate over policy.  Candidates for these offices are listed on the ballot without any designation of political party, and so are typically the most difficult for most voters to evaluate.  polkdemocrats.com will provide the party affiliation of all these candidates where it is known.

Here are the judicial offices:

Supreme Court Justice, with a single seat, the Brady Seat, up for election.  Two current appeals court judges will contest for the seat: Democrat Robert C. Hunter and Barbara Jackson.

Results: Sadly, Bob Hunter lost his bid for this seat, losing to the Republican Barbara Jackson 52-48.  He actually won in Polk County, though.

Court of Appeals Judges, with four seats up for election, and an additional special election for a fifth seat that opened up after the close of primaries.

The first appellate seat is the one now held by Sanford Steelman, who is running unopposed.

Results: Steelman.

The second is the seat now held by Republican Ann Marie Calabria, who only barely won the second nomination; the top vote-getter was Democrat Jane Gray.

Results: The Republican Calabria held her seat, 54-46, winning in Polk County as well.  So far, we're 0-3 on judges.

The third seat is the one now held by Rick Elmore, who will be opposed by Steven Walker.  Elmore is not a Democrat, but Walker isn't either, and in addition is not a judge and only 5 years removed from law school.  That decision isn't hard.

Results: Elmore held his seat easily, 54-46, avoiding what would have been a major embarrassment for the electorate.  Polk County Republicans maintained their undeviating knack of voting for the wrong person, though, actually voting solidly for Walker. 

The last is the seat now held by Democrat Martha Geer, who was opposed by Republican Dean R. Poirier.

Results: Martha Geer pounded Poirier by 20 points, 60-40, for our first judicial win.  She won just as big here; good for her.

Special Judicial Election

In an unfortunate coincidence of timing, President Obama named one of our appellate court judges to a vacant federal bench seat after the deadline for others to file for his seat in November.  This meant that the BOE had to scramble to come up with a means to get that seat on the November ballot without having a primary election.

This will occur in a special "instant runoff" ballot entry, wherein the voter will be faced with three parallel columns at the end of the ballot, each with the same list of the 13 names of people who are seeking the seat.  For the NC BOE's explanation of this, click here.

In essence, what you must do is vote for three different people, in the order you wish them to serve, with your favorite marked in the first column, your second-favorite in the second, and so on.  If, as is almost certain, none of the 13 reaches 50% in the first column, then the field will be pared and the winner decided by the second or third columns. This is guaranteed to be confusing, but faced with the dilemma it's hard to fault the BOE for choosing this rather than a separate election.

None of the 7 Republicans seeking the seat -- an appellate seat, the second highest court -- are judges at all; they are attorneys in various kinds of private practice, opportunists trying to take the easy way to the second highest court in the land without learning the trade first.  None of them should be considered for your vote.

That is also, unfortunately, true for four of the six Democrats on the long list.  The two actual judges among the Democrats are Mark E. Klass and Cressie Thigpen, and only Klass has long service.  The full list of Democrats seeking the seat: Stan Hammer; Mark E. Klass; Anne Middleton; Harry E. Payne; John Sullivan; Cressie Thigpen.

The Executive Committee has debated the issue of which Democrat to recommend, and, while not formally endorsing anyone, demonstrated a clear preference for Cressie Thigpen, the Special Superior Court Judge the governor appointed to the Wynn seat pending the election.

You should vote for three different people in the three columns; the Board of Elections has told polkdemocrats.com that other strategies (voting for the same person in all columns, voting only in the first column, etc) will invalidate your runoff votes.

Results:  As expected, none of the candidates got 50% of the vote (or anything close to that) in the first pass, and the two who proceeded to the runoff were the ones anointed by their parties: Cressie Thigpen for us and Doug McCullough for the Republicans. The final result took forever, but in the end the Republican McCullough narrowly took the seat, a perhaps fitting end to an unhappy series of judicial elections. 

The Board of Elections has issued an online guide to judicial elections, and you can download it here.

The remaining non-partisan offices are local, and are as follows:

Polk County Board of Education, with four seats up for election: those of Democrats Geoff Tennant and Jim Cowan, and Republicans Judy Jackson and Sherry Page, all of whom are running for re-election.  Democrat Suzanne Metcalf is challenging Jim Cowan, also a Democrat, for the Tryon seat; the others are running unopposed.

Results: All the incumbents won.  Tennant, Jackson, and Page were unopposed and had only token write-in opposition, and Jim Cowan won the Tryon seat decisively, 65-35.

Candidates for Soil and Water, with Democratic incumbents Charles D. Edwards and Richard Smith running unopposed for re-election.

Results: Both obviously won.
 

Constitutional Amendment

With very little fanfare, the state legislature has passed a state constitutional change and it must be ratified by the voters to go into effect.  It will thus appear as a "For" or "Against" decision on whether the constitution should be changed to prohibit convicted felons from serving as county sheriff.

The press release from the Secretary of State's office, taken from the NC BOE website, is here.

The Executive Committee of the Polk County Democratic Party has debated the amendment issue and voted to oppose it.  We believe that no such thing belongs in the state constitution.  From the information we have, it would appear that supporters of the amendment find it constitutionally permissible for convicted felons with restored civil rights to serve as governor or attorney general or any other state office, but not county sheriff.  There has been no substantive debate on it either way, and we find no persuasive argument for cluttering up the constitution with what in the end is a job description.

Results: To the annoyance of polkdemocrats.com and the Executive Committee, the amendment passed overwhelmingly, both statewide (85-15) and in Polk County. 

_____________________

Footnotes

The Curse of Sam Ervin

Our current senior Senator Richard Burr holds one of the most interesting seats in the US Senate.  It's the seat once held by the legendary Sam Ervin, who was the face of North Carolina during the Nixon Watergate Hearings, and who held the seat for 20 of the most turbulent and important years ever: 1954-1974.  He began his career with Senate investigative work that led to the downfall of Joseph McCarthy, and ended it with the downfall of Richard Nixon.  He was from Morganton, and always called himself a "country lawyer," but everybody knew better.

Sam Ervin was a giant in the Senate, but a funny thing happened to his seat when he finally left it in 1974, 36 years ago: no one since has held the seat for more than one term, and some pretty bizarre things have happened along the way. 

Ervin was succeeded by Robert B. Morgan, best known to his family, who was of course defeated for his second term by John P. East in 1980. 

Things worked out pretty well for East until 1986, the final year of his term, when he announced that he was not running for re-election, and then put an exclamation point on that by killing himself.  The Republican governor at the time, Jim Martin, appointed Jim Broyhill to the seat for the few months left in East's term, thinking it would give him a leg up for election in his own right in November.

But the curse continued: Broyhill was defeated in the fall by Terry Sanford, thus becoming one of the shortest-serving Senators of all time.  Sanford was never happy in the Senate, he was much more successful as governor, but unwisely decided to tempt the curse and run for re-election anyway -- and was beaten (narrowly) by Lauch Faircloth, of uncertain memory.

Faircloth was a lifelong Democrat who switched parties and won in 1992 as a Republican, and he was amply rewarded for the perfidy by getting beat (narrowly) by John Edwards in 1988.

The curse of Sam Ervin has been the least of Edwards' problems, but he carried it on by declining a second term, leaving the door open for -- Richard Burr.

Here's to you, Mister Sam, let's hope you're not done.

Update:  But he was.  Burr's re-election ended the curse, leaving those of us who believe in such things to console ourselves with the Chicago Cubs.

The North Carolina Election Runoff System

 There are a lot of good things about Democracy, and the good legislators of the Tar Heel state had their hearts in the right place when they enacted their election law, but it's hard to be a fan of their runoff procedure.

Here's how it works.  In races where there are more than two candidates, the possibility that none of the candidates will achieve 50% of the vote is very real, in fact probable, particularly in primaries, which are really the only elections where this is a consideration.  Simply awarding the win to the one with the most votes would mean basing the election on plurality rather than majority, and risk choosing someone who received a very small percentage of the vote.  If there are many candidates, the plurality winner could have in the order of 30% of the votes, meaning that more than 2/3 of the voters had voted for somebody else.

What the NC law does to prevent that is, in essence, whittle down the field to two and have a runoff that forces a majority decision.  There is a provision in the law that helps, since the threshold for avoiding a recount isn't 50% (which would mean recounts for all but the most lopsided multi-candidate races), but rather a more manageable 40%.  That solves a lot of the problems, but it introduces another one.

That problem is that it eliminates most of the runoffs, but not all.  It seems that, one way or another, every election cycle, some race fails of the 40% threshold and forces a runoff.  If, as this time, the runoff is for a statewide office, that means all 100 counties must assemble their entire election armada and do it all over again, to decide one winner out of a thousand.

That's 100 counties times who knows how many precincts times who knows how many poll workers per precinct, sitting there all day, for the handful of voters who will pay any attention to the runoff at all.  A grotesquely small number of voters will choose the winner -- actually a mockery of democracy -- and the taxpayers of North Carolina will foot the bill, in the order of $3 million.

No, change the law.  Award the winner by plurality if necessary, accepting the risk of a low-percentage win as a bargain for avoiding the runoff.  Two very good presidents were elected exactly that way: Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman.

Post-Mortem

It was a bloody night for Democrats nationwide and here in the region, in fact compared to that we look pretty good.  The word we had on Thursday is that the Republicans slunk out of Calvert's with their tails between their legs on Tuesday, because all they got was basically a tie, leaving them no better off than when they started.  Given the terrible climate, we should be proud of the results.

The big one, of course, was the re-election of Ray Gasperson to a four-year term as Commissioner, assuring Democratic control of the Board for two more years at least.  We must assume that Owens and Pack will continue to provide the "no" for which Republicans are so justly famous, but it will be an impotent no, a grandstanding no, an irrelevant no.  Our Commissioners' program for progress in the county will carry us to 2012, when the voters with their inevitable buyers remorse will right the ship.

Donald's great victory was sweet, but it was so expected that no one thought much about it; the volunteers' greatest challenge was to buck up Donald and tell him to stop worrying for goodness sake, but they never succeeded.  He believes us now, let us hope.

We had no such trouble with Charlene, in fact we barely saw her during the campaign.  Having no opponent and no write-in allowed gave new grandmothers a chance to set other priorities, and good for her. 

But Margaret and Benny lost.  Bummer, because they're such good people and such good candidates, but in an imperfect world the best people don't always win.  Why did they lose?

"Bad year," is the quick answer, and that it certainly was.  Our surrounding counties Transylvania, Henderson, and Rutherford all went solidly R, and we know the sad results nationally.  It is Ray that is the exception, not Margaret and Benny, and we need to look at it exactly that way.

The apostates Watson and Melton surely played a role, though, not only directly in the number of votes they consumed but in the rancor and ill will they injected into the campaign.  They did their best to tear down their own party, and they did some damage, but the voters' decision on them was brutal, and correct.  Let us hear their names no more. 

Advertising?  Letters?  Events?  Volunteers?  Materials?  No, we're very good at all of them.  You could criticize individual things of course, but in total these "process" things are a strength of ours.  

In the end I think we won everything that it was possible to win, which is a great compliment to our campaign.  You cannot do better, and can easily do worse, as the Republicans found out this year.  Hearty congratulations to us all, especially our candidates, every one.