The polls opened at the Bayboro courthouse yesterday morning for one-stop voting.
Why is it called one-stop? Because you can register, make any changes to your voter registration, and vote all at the same place. In fact, only during one-stop you can register to vote and go ahead and cast your ballot.
NC is one of only ten states to offer some form of same day registration and voting.
Yesterday's turnout was pretty good: 116 voters cast their ballots.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Cutting the Apron Strings
Today's New York Times has an interesting article examining the difficulty today's college students have breaking away from their parents. Have College Freshmen Changed? Cutting the Apron Strings examines the phenomenon.
But it starts well before college.
Children seldom get to play on their own. Their sports are organized and supervised by adults. They have no free time - it is all programmed.
Sixty years ago, mothers would shoo us out of the house. "Go out and play. Be back for supper."
We would ride our bikes for miles. For sports, we found a vacant lot and chose up sides. The baseball might be wrapped in tape in lieu of the original leather cover, the cracked bat repaired with electrical tape or even a nail. A few of us had gloves. There was no catcher's equipment, batting helmet or any of that. Any scrap of wood could serve as home plate. Other scraps or a mark in the dust would outline a base. We called our own balls and strikes and outs.
Not an adult in sight.
If there weren't enough kids to have two teams, we played workup. (Also called "scrub" some places).
During football season, we played tackle without helmets or pads. The only shoes were tennis shoes.
In the winter we played basketball on a dirt court, shooting at a hoop attached to a square piece of plywood nailed to a tree. My basketball had laces like a football.
We had to solve our own squabbles.
It wasn't a bad way to grow up.
But it starts well before college.
Children seldom get to play on their own. Their sports are organized and supervised by adults. They have no free time - it is all programmed.
Sixty years ago, mothers would shoo us out of the house. "Go out and play. Be back for supper."
We would ride our bikes for miles. For sports, we found a vacant lot and chose up sides. The baseball might be wrapped in tape in lieu of the original leather cover, the cracked bat repaired with electrical tape or even a nail. A few of us had gloves. There was no catcher's equipment, batting helmet or any of that. Any scrap of wood could serve as home plate. Other scraps or a mark in the dust would outline a base. We called our own balls and strikes and outs.
Not an adult in sight.
If there weren't enough kids to have two teams, we played workup. (Also called "scrub" some places).
During football season, we played tackle without helmets or pads. The only shoes were tennis shoes.
In the winter we played basketball on a dirt court, shooting at a hoop attached to a square piece of plywood nailed to a tree. My basketball had laces like a football.
We had to solve our own squabbles.
It wasn't a bad way to grow up.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Right to Vote
I'm reading an interesting book, published about ten years ago: The Right to Vote, The Contested History of Democracy in the United States.
Suffrage has been a contentious issue in our history, as I have mentioned in some earlier posts. In fact, of all the members of the Pamlico County Board of Elections, I am the only one who would have been allowed to vote at the beginning of our nation's history. That is, unless I had lived in Massachusetts, where I would have had to belong to the Congregational Church, or unless I did not own enough property.
In many of the former colonies, the vote was granted only to those who owned real estate. Some states, though, allowed the ownership of personal property of a certain value to qualify.
Benjamin Franklin once had a humorous observation about this qualification:
Suffrage has been a contentious issue in our history, as I have mentioned in some earlier posts. In fact, of all the members of the Pamlico County Board of Elections, I am the only one who would have been allowed to vote at the beginning of our nation's history. That is, unless I had lived in Massachusetts, where I would have had to belong to the Congregational Church, or unless I did not own enough property.
In many of the former colonies, the vote was granted only to those who owned real estate. Some states, though, allowed the ownership of personal property of a certain value to qualify.
Benjamin Franklin once had a humorous observation about this qualification:
Today a man owns a jackass worth fifty dollars and he is entitled to vote; but before the next election the jackass dies. The man in the meantime has become more experienced, his knowledge of the principles of government, and his acquaintance with mankind, are more extensive, and he is therefore better qualified to make a proper selection of rulers – but the jackass is dead and the man cannot vote. Now gentlemen, pray inform me, in whom is the right of suffrage? In the man or in the jackass?
I think Dr. Franklin would be surprised, pleased and gratified to learn that 220 years after his death, any American citizen older than eighteen years now has the right of suffrage. A big change, though it took two centuries to accomplish.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Instant Runoff Voting
One-stop voting in North Carolina starts next Thursday, October 14. In Pamlico County, our only one-stop voting location is at County Board of Elections headquarters at the courthouse in Bayboro.
A good reason to vote at one-stop is that you can take your time, study the information on the candidates, and cast an informed vote at your own convenience.
This may be especially important for the instant runoff vote for a vacancy on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. This will be a historic first. There has not been an instant runoff vote in the United States for a statewide office since the 1930's.
Instant runoff means you won't have to come back for a second round of voting for that office. Here's the way it works:
1. You cast your vote on the same iVotronics touch-screen machine as for the other offices, unless you use a paper ballot (absentee by mail, curbside or provisional vote).
2. When you get to the choice for Court of Appeals, choose the candidate you prefer for the office in the "first choice" column.
3. If you have a second choice candidate (in case your first choice doesn't win in the first round of counting or make it to the second round of counting), mark the second choice in that column.
4. If you have a third choice, mark that choice in the third column.
5. Be sure to pick a different candidate for each choice.
At this point, your job is done. Cast your ballot as you always do.
No need to read further unless you are unusually curious about the process.
For election officials, the job has just begun.
On election night the first place votes will be counted. If any one of the thirteen candidates wins more than 50% of the votes cast for that office, that candidate wins. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes cast, then the top two candidates move into the second round of vote counting.
Now it gets complicated. The second round of counting will take place after the official canvass of the November 2nd vote. (Ranking of the top two candidates won't be official until then).
The second round will be a hand count. Vote counters will have to count using the following rules:
1. Examine each ballot. If the voter's first choice is in the runoff, do not count the second or third choice.
2. If the voter's first choice is not in the runoff and the second choice is in the runoff, count the second choice votes. Add the second choice votes to the first choice votes (remember, there are only two candidates remaining at this point).
3. If neither the voter's first choice nor second choice is in the runoff but the third choice is in the runoff, count the third choice votes. Add the third choice votes to the first and second choice votes for the two runoff candidates.
4. The candidate with the most votes wins.
Simple.
A good reason to vote at one-stop is that you can take your time, study the information on the candidates, and cast an informed vote at your own convenience.
This may be especially important for the instant runoff vote for a vacancy on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. This will be a historic first. There has not been an instant runoff vote in the United States for a statewide office since the 1930's.
Instant runoff means you won't have to come back for a second round of voting for that office. Here's the way it works:
1. You cast your vote on the same iVotronics touch-screen machine as for the other offices, unless you use a paper ballot (absentee by mail, curbside or provisional vote).
2. When you get to the choice for Court of Appeals, choose the candidate you prefer for the office in the "first choice" column.
3. If you have a second choice candidate (in case your first choice doesn't win in the first round of counting or make it to the second round of counting), mark the second choice in that column.
4. If you have a third choice, mark that choice in the third column.
5. Be sure to pick a different candidate for each choice.
At this point, your job is done. Cast your ballot as you always do.
No need to read further unless you are unusually curious about the process.
For election officials, the job has just begun.
On election night the first place votes will be counted. If any one of the thirteen candidates wins more than 50% of the votes cast for that office, that candidate wins. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes cast, then the top two candidates move into the second round of vote counting.
Now it gets complicated. The second round of counting will take place after the official canvass of the November 2nd vote. (Ranking of the top two candidates won't be official until then).
The second round will be a hand count. Vote counters will have to count using the following rules:
1. Examine each ballot. If the voter's first choice is in the runoff, do not count the second or third choice.
2. If the voter's first choice is not in the runoff and the second choice is in the runoff, count the second choice votes. Add the second choice votes to the first choice votes (remember, there are only two candidates remaining at this point).
3. If neither the voter's first choice nor second choice is in the runoff but the third choice is in the runoff, count the third choice votes. Add the third choice votes to the first and second choice votes for the two runoff candidates.
4. The candidate with the most votes wins.
Simple.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Parking
During the August meeting of Oriental's Town Board, a resident submitted photographs to the Board, complaining that they showed instances of people parking their cars partially on the pavement. She cited a rule that "all four wheels must be on the grass."
I had heard the rule before, but wondered where it came from. So I asked Town Hall. The source, I was told is:
NCGS 20-161 and
General Ordinance of the Town of Oriental, Chapter F, Section 1-7.
So I looked them up. The provision of North Carolina General Statutes, it turns out, applies only "outside municipal corporate limits."
Then I looked up our ordinance. It says: "no vehicle shall stop in any street except for the purpose of parking...."
OK, Then what is a street? The ordinance defines it as "The entire width between property lines of every way or place of whatever nature when any part thereof is open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular traffic."
Bottom line: there is no "four wheels on the grass" rule. Not in our town.
The rest of the story: a couple of weeks ago, at the insistence of two town commissioners (never mind that they have no operational authority in town affairs) and the Interim Town Manager, three perfectly healthy wax myrtles gave their lives in honor of this nonexistent rule.
Postscript: I wasn't all that fond of the wax myrtles. It is also clear that they were in the town's right of way. The town has assigned significant authority over trees in public areas, including rights of way (streets) to the tree board. Had the tree board met and deliberated about the trees and recommended their removal, I would have no problem. Let the tree board do its job!
I had heard the rule before, but wondered where it came from. So I asked Town Hall. The source, I was told is:
NCGS 20-161 and
General Ordinance of the Town of Oriental, Chapter F, Section 1-7.
So I looked them up. The provision of North Carolina General Statutes, it turns out, applies only "outside municipal corporate limits."
Then I looked up our ordinance. It says: "no vehicle shall stop in any street except for the purpose of parking...."
OK, Then what is a street? The ordinance defines it as "The entire width between property lines of every way or place of whatever nature when any part thereof is open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular traffic."
Bottom line: there is no "four wheels on the grass" rule. Not in our town.
The rest of the story: a couple of weeks ago, at the insistence of two town commissioners (never mind that they have no operational authority in town affairs) and the Interim Town Manager, three perfectly healthy wax myrtles gave their lives in honor of this nonexistent rule.
Postscript: I wasn't all that fond of the wax myrtles. It is also clear that they were in the town's right of way. The town has assigned significant authority over trees in public areas, including rights of way (streets) to the tree board. Had the tree board met and deliberated about the trees and recommended their removal, I would have no problem. Let the tree board do its job!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Elections in Ancient Athens
Thinking about our forthcoming election, I was somehow reminded of a story from ancient Athens.
One of the strangest of elections was held in Fifth Century BCE Athens . It was an election to determine whether the citizens of Athens wanted to banish some prominent person.
In January or February of each year, citizens were asked if they wanted to hold an ostracism (so called because the ballots were scratched on shards of broken pottery known as "ostrakon"). The actual vote was held two months later, and if there were a total of six thousand votes, the person with the most votes was banished from Athens (ostracised) for a period of ten years.
Over the years, many prominent Athenians were ostracised. The reasons for ostracism were often not clear.
In one story, an Athenian name Aristides, known as "the Just," was being considered for banishment in 482 BCE. As the vote was being taken, an illiterate citizen approached Aristides and asked him to write the name "Aristides" on his ostrakon. Aristides asked why. The man replied, "because I am tired of constantly hearing him called 'the Just.'"
One of the strangest of elections was held in Fifth Century BCE Athens . It was an election to determine whether the citizens of Athens wanted to banish some prominent person.
In January or February of each year, citizens were asked if they wanted to hold an ostracism (so called because the ballots were scratched on shards of broken pottery known as "ostrakon"). The actual vote was held two months later, and if there were a total of six thousand votes, the person with the most votes was banished from Athens (ostracised) for a period of ten years.
Over the years, many prominent Athenians were ostracised. The reasons for ostracism were often not clear.
In one story, an Athenian name Aristides, known as "the Just," was being considered for banishment in 482 BCE. As the vote was being taken, an illiterate citizen approached Aristides and asked him to write the name "Aristides" on his ostrakon. Aristides asked why. The man replied, "because I am tired of constantly hearing him called 'the Just.'"
Anchor Time (guest commentary)
| But Kinde and True have been long tried | |
| A harbour where we may confide, | |
| And safely there at anchor ride. | |
| From change of winds there we are free, | |
| And need not feare Storme's tyrannie, | |
| Nor Pirat, though a Prince he be. | |
- Aurelian Townsend (1583?-1643) |
-Capt. Ben
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Town Board Meeting Sept 7 2010
Last night's meeting of the Oriental Town Board was reasonably uneventful. Highlights:
1. The first item on the agenda, approval of minutes, only took eighteen minutes this time. There seem to be remaining issues in the area of drafting minutes that report what was done, rather than what was said. Another problem seems to be to rid the minutes of editorial asides and characterizations of the commissioners' thoughts. Commissioner Roe is leading the effort to improve the minutes. Good for her.
2. The continued public hearing on rezoning of Mr. Friedman's property on Midyette Street was continued again at Mr. Friedman's request. Mr. Friedman was not present.
3. The Board went into closed session to discuss a personnel matter. The Town Attorney, Scott Davis, had to leave early and apparently his presence was required during the closed session.
So the closed session was held early in the evening rather than at the end.
4. The Board received an update on the work of the surveyor hired by the town to determine the location of South Water Street. His report also raised the issue of the width of the right-of-way. Following a lengthy discussion, the Board established the width of the South Water Street right of way as 36 feet. The board briefly considered the issue of what is allowed to be placed in the right of way by adjacent landowners and concluded the existing ordinances are adequate.
5. During the public comment period, Pat Herlands suggested the Board should consider having a second business meeting each month, as the County Commissioners do. She pointed out that the Board increasingly takes action each month during the agenda meeting, and supported recognizing that fact by scheduling a second meeting.
6. During the period set aside for non-agenda items, Commissioner Roe moved to amend the minutes of the June 1 meeting to accurately reflect the motion that was made concerning employee insurance. She went on to introduce an amendment to the Town's personnel ordinance to reflect decisions made about employee insurance during the budget process.
Editorial comment: Not mentioned during this discussion, but mentioned at two recent Board meetings, is that the Town's personnel ordinance, adopted by the 2005 - 2007 Board, asserts that we have a mayor-council form of government. We now know for certain that the Town has a council-manager form of government. Personnel policies may be significantly different between the two systems. Someone needs to review our existing manual to identify necessary amendments, if any.
1. The first item on the agenda, approval of minutes, only took eighteen minutes this time. There seem to be remaining issues in the area of drafting minutes that report what was done, rather than what was said. Another problem seems to be to rid the minutes of editorial asides and characterizations of the commissioners' thoughts. Commissioner Roe is leading the effort to improve the minutes. Good for her.
2. The continued public hearing on rezoning of Mr. Friedman's property on Midyette Street was continued again at Mr. Friedman's request. Mr. Friedman was not present.
3. The Board went into closed session to discuss a personnel matter. The Town Attorney, Scott Davis, had to leave early and apparently his presence was required during the closed session.
So the closed session was held early in the evening rather than at the end.
4. The Board received an update on the work of the surveyor hired by the town to determine the location of South Water Street. His report also raised the issue of the width of the right-of-way. Following a lengthy discussion, the Board established the width of the South Water Street right of way as 36 feet. The board briefly considered the issue of what is allowed to be placed in the right of way by adjacent landowners and concluded the existing ordinances are adequate.
5. During the public comment period, Pat Herlands suggested the Board should consider having a second business meeting each month, as the County Commissioners do. She pointed out that the Board increasingly takes action each month during the agenda meeting, and supported recognizing that fact by scheduling a second meeting.
6. During the period set aside for non-agenda items, Commissioner Roe moved to amend the minutes of the June 1 meeting to accurately reflect the motion that was made concerning employee insurance. She went on to introduce an amendment to the Town's personnel ordinance to reflect decisions made about employee insurance during the budget process.
Editorial comment: Not mentioned during this discussion, but mentioned at two recent Board meetings, is that the Town's personnel ordinance, adopted by the 2005 - 2007 Board, asserts that we have a mayor-council form of government. We now know for certain that the Town has a council-manager form of government. Personnel policies may be significantly different between the two systems. Someone needs to review our existing manual to identify necessary amendments, if any.
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