On August 24, Virginia posted to the Chatlist "And as for Raymond Gastwaite, broad and unimpeded access to the ballot box is what democracy demands and what my father fought to uphold in WWII as well as my uncle did later in Korea."

Huh?

Perhaps Virginia misread my post referring to the Chatham County Board of Elections meeting in August. In it I talked about hecklers being rude to the Elections Board members and to the rest of the meeting participants. I also mentioned that the Board of Elections was not able to rent space for election sites due to intimidating behavior by one of the political parties in the past. Intimidating behavior seems like one method of impeding access to the ballot box. 

So, two items. 

First item: here is the rule for electioneering at voting places (the complete list of NC voting law is at http://dl.ncsbe.gov/sboe/ElectionLawIndex.pdf). Nobody can hinder access, harass others, distribute campaign literature, place political advertising, solicit votes, or otherwise engage in election-related activity in the voting place or in a buffer zone of 50 feet from the front door of the place of voting.

Let us all pay close attention to make sure this law is enforced. Let us also hope that electioneering is conducted with respect to all political viewpoints.

Second item: I know a bit about what our soldiers do for the country. I took the soldiers oath (http://www.history.army.mil/html/faq/oaths.html), like millions of others since the beginning of our Republic, and that oath says we will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Oaths do not expire. If you really want to know what soldiers fight for, read the Constitution.

Board of Elections

I sat quietly listening in the back of the room at the August 16 Chatham County Board of Elections meeting. I hoped to observe a respectful, data driven discussion about how our County will efficiently and effectively conduct the November elections in a non-partisan manner.

Not so much. 

I was surprised that twenty one citizens signed up to speak in front of the board. Most speakers demanded that Chatham County open early voting sites in northeast Chatham County for 17 days of early voting, with extended hours, plus 3 more Sunday voting days. 

Some of the arguments for extended hours were that people just do not have time to vote; that more voting sites need to be opened because of voter lack of interest; that voters can only get to the polls if they are driven by their churches, and that people just do not have enough time, in 17 days, to vote. One person said we need to open more voting places to shorten long time-consuming lines because voters will no longer be able to vote a straight party ticket. Funny how the states to the north and south of North Carolina can get by with just absentee voting. 

A minority felt that individuals should take personal initiative to make it to the polls, and that those who wish to vote in the upcoming election could do so with the same early voting hours as in past elections, plus absentee ballots, plus the day of election itself. 

The county Board of Elections consists of three members; two from the sitting governors party, one from the opposition. Board decisions must be unanimous or the State will determine the County procedures. Our county board seems to be three reasonable and informed individuals who seek to do the right thing. The Board Chair should be commended for his position that to be fair, all early voting places across the county need to be open the same times. Some in the audience wanted the northeast polling location to be open for many more hours than those in Siler City or Goldston, or at the Board of Elections office itself.

After the public comment period ended, members of the audience heckled the Elections Board as they debated among themselves the merits of various early voting locations, whether funds were available for additional hours, or how to equitably distribute voting options across the county. The hecklers were, without exception, upset about not having greatly increased early voting hours over the previous elections. They were intrusive on the Board members deliberations and abusive to anyone who disagreed with them.

One of the problems with expanding voting locations in Chatham County is finding suitable and willing locations. The Board of Elections Director said owners of several potential early voting locations refused to rent space to the County because of the rude campaigning behavior of political activists in the past. One of the speakers complained about this happening in the March elections, and I have heard that Democrat activists have intimidated voters at polling sites in the County. Intimidating behavior seems entirely likely given that very behavior I witnessed Tuesday evening. 

How can the citizens of the county assist our voting process? Chatham County needs unbiased and honest volunteers to ensure fair and open elections. Please volunteer with the County Board of Elections. Contact the Board of Elections at http://www.chathamnc.org/Index.aspx?page=110.

Chatham County is now Zoned

Do you feel more protected from your neighbors and friends now that the entire county is zoned? County-wide residential zoning was implemented Monday at the Commissioners meeting. Did anyone really expect that the outcome would be different? Early in the process an interim solution was proposed by some of the more conservative county commissioners, but their approach was overruled by the more left-leaning commissioners. Recall that the Chatham Democrat Committee went so far as to actively campaign against a sitting Democrat Commissioner who was not sufficiently supportive of zoning. This was a done deal, regardless of any public input from the people being zoned.

At the Commissioners meeting fifteen citizens spoke about zoning; twelve stood against the zoning plan as presented, while three speakers were pro zoning. Just coincidentally all three are registered Democrats, and two of them live in areas that were already zoned, residing miles away from where the meeting was held in Bear Creek. One pro-zoning speaker who lives in northeast Chatham County spoke as if the County would not survive another day without zoning. By her way of thinking we all need protection and only the Commissioners can provide that protection. Another supporter has spoken at least nine times before the Commissioners in the past year regarding zoning or environmental issues. Both these folks are already zoned; why are they so insistent on zoning those who are not, and why the rush? In fact, Commissioner Petty questioned the other commissioners about why now, and received no answer.

Jason Sullivan, the County Planning Director, stated that 300 businesses will need to be looked at (but I am not quite sure exactly what that means) and that the process will take many months. Then County staff will return to the Commissioners with an offer to rezone those business at no fee to the property owners.

Brian Bock presented the minority report from the Planning Board against zoning. He stated that the Planning Board was given only one option to review - that of straight up all or nothing zoning, with no other options other than the one desired by the Commissioners.

George Lucier presented the Planning Board recommendation, which he called The Commissioners Initiative, and gave 10 reasons to zone the entire county. I could not follow the logic with some of his presentation. His point number 4 was that farming needs protection, yet his point number 5 was that bringing in business was critical. I fail to see how blanket residential zoning achieves either of those goals.

Commissioner Hales made the motion to zone the entire county, and Commissioner Howard seconded the motion. That those two sponsored the zoning motion is not surprising given their history getting to the present vote. Remember that Commissioner Howard is up for re-election this November.

Pen Name

Dr. Dykers, in a recent post, asked if Raymond Gastwaite was a nom de plume, or pen name.

I confess that Raymond is not this writers legal name as shown on my Chatham County voters registration. However, that really should not matter much for readers of the Chatlist or of my blog. Who I am is unimportant. I am trying to stimulate reasoned discussion around politics of interest in our wonderful County, and plan to continue researching, seeking out information, and summarizing my findings. I will post facts, and identify my personal opinions, to the Chatlist and to my blog when they are relevant to our citizens.

I thought about using the pen name Richard Saunders - but that pen name was already taken by one of our forefathers, Benjamin Franklin.

Chatham County Comprehensive Plan Survey

We should all know by now that Chatham County is in the midst of developing a Comprehensive Plan. Some of the plan inputs will come from a survey of residents to gather information about what we want for our county in the future.

I have a problem with the phrasing of survey questions. Almost all of the questions are How Do We Spend More Of Your Money questions, and seem to be implying that the only way to continue having this wonderful Chatham County is to have More Government Involvement in our lives.

I took the survey, and I strongly encourage the readers of the Chatlist to that also. Respond as you see fit, but read each of the questions carefully. You can add inputs to the questions that more closely meet your personal hopes for the county.

Take the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5FYXTWB before August 5.