Another Election In The Books
Another Election In The Books
A summary of happenings at one polling location in Wake County, North Carolina on Election Day, November 7, 2023.
What an interesting day it was at the polls yesterday in North Carolina, at least in my opinion. This was my first time passing out literature to promote Libertarian principles and encourage voters to pledge their support for the only libertarian candidate on the ballot. The weather was gorgeous and spirits were high for the most part. There was one brief incident I witnessed when a voter felt the need to yell “F off,” when asked if he wanted a “conservative” voter guide offered up by the GOP volunteer.
I became quickly energized when the conversations started flowing, even if those conversations were rude, unnecessary ones like the one mentioned above. Once I heard the voter’s rejection of the republican voter guide, I immediately walked over to the woman who was verbally abused and verified I saw and heard the incident correctly. We enjoyed a brief conversation -in between handing out flyers to voters- about a few political topics; educational freedom and our national borders.
The republican volunteer told me she was practically a libertarian already. For instance, she shared her disappointment in a municipal politician who recently voted down an opportunity for a new public charter school. I asked if she followed the state budget appropriations this year, where the K-12 voucher appropriation had skyrocketed. I told her I used to be a huge advocate for money following students, but I am now a huge fan of keeping the government out of my life, especially when it comes to siphoning dollars from hard working North Carolinians. I hate seeing the government become larger each year and more slovenly and inefficient with dollars they force us to pay.
The government should not be managing K-12 education for us at all. In fact, they have shown us time and again how terrible they are managing other people’s money.
Even though my candidate received 312 votes for 4.22% of the vote in the Holly Springs City Council election, at least I knew who was really standing up against government overreach and further expansion. While I didn’t have time to verify before publishing this piece, I was told the GOP candidates in this election were all in support of the park bond referendum, which seems ludicrous to spend money the City government hasn’t budgeted for. For what it’s worth, there was a park literally a block away from this polling location (Holly Springs Elementary School) which had a total of two cars in the parking lot and was underutilized (Jones).
Even the democrat volunteers were encouraging voters to vote “yes” for the bond, but when I went to discuss how many parks were in the municipal boundary, the gentlemen happily shared how great the parks were. The gentlemen finally told me he wasn’t convinced the bond tax was a good idea. Hearing things like this are what I absolutely love about being out there in the field.
How did I see Jones Park while I was supposed to be working the polls? Well, funny thing is taxpayers (who fund public school buildings) are denied access to the school buildings to use restrooms on Election Day, which can be as long as a 12-13 hour shift … even on days when children are not in classes (which yesterday was at my location!).
A combined 14 Libertarians and unaffiliateds had boldly stepped up to the plate to run in this election, however, it seems only two were able to pull through. Two is better than zero! I don’t know you all, but I thank the following candidates who worked so hard this season:
Greg Carpenter - Town of Liberty
Dustin S. Willet - Town of Parmele
Andrew Kinzie - Town of Jamestown
Christopher Richardson - Town of Winfall
Mitch Bridges - City of Shelby
Michael Saner - Town of Murfreesboro
Rob Yates - City Of Charlotte
Gheorghe Cormos - Cape Carteret
Steven J. Difiore II -City Of Charlotte
Eric Rowell -Town Of Huntersville
Travis Groo - Town Of Holly Springs
Justin Herbe - City Of Fayetteville
J.J.Campbell- City Of Durham
Don’t forget, the next election is always right around the corner. Let’s take the risks to get qualified candidates between now and the next one : Upcoming Election | NCSBE
Finally and as an added bonus in wrapping up my Election Day, it was a special treat to hear friend and chairman of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina, Ryan Brown, receive a call from an employee of the NC State Board of Elections about an alleged photo of his ballot, which he captured and shared on the internet because he believes this government restriction to be in violation of his individual rights. During the call, Ryan was asked to remove his photo of his ballot, or the NCSBE would pursue an investigation, which could ultimately lead to a misdemeanor infraction. He refused to remove his ballot, which shows himself as the write-in candidate for each race on the ballot. Read about his activity here.
My sincere thanks to all my new subscribers! Keep sharing!