Letter to the Editor

Editor:

Most NC voters will go to the polls this year thinking that they will have an
opportunity to choose who will represent them in the NC legislature. However,
53% of the NC House districts and 43% of the NC Senate will be running
unopposed. The NC Board of Elections will throw away any attempt to cast a write
in vote against these privileged candidates.

Half of the NC legislature is chosen before the voters see their ballots. It may
come as no surprise to those who know or care that laws which prevent a third/
fourth party from being on the ballot is passed by - the NC legislature itself.
In 2006 the legislature voted to retain ballot access laws, even to making it
more burdensome, accepting the argument that if the requirements were loosened
it would lead to a “crowded” ballot.

The people of NC have been living with this no-newcomers-welcome system for
years. You should be disgusted; some of us are not surprised. As individuals,
the disenfranchised voters will be disappointed that they have no alternatives
for particular races and in some the same people.

Most citizens of this state do not and will not realize, half of the ballots
contain no choice or only two choices in the NC Senate and House. You might
think that this story would warrant some coverage by the mainstream media. But
that happens only rarely.

Again: half of the NC legislature will have no opponents; others will have the
usual two on the ballot because the NC legislature does not want the ballot to
become “crowded”.

For those “lucky” legislators, it is not an election, but merely a coronation.
We, the voters, need more choices on election day.

Richard C. Evey,
Havelock, NC