THE FIELD IS SET! (A WCHL Commentary)

Now that the period to file for the 2011 election has ended, we know who will be on the November ballot. In Carrboro, the mayor is un-opposed and four people, including two incumbents are running for three aldermen seats. In the school board election, seven people, including three incumbents are running for the four, four-year seats and one person is running for the two-year seat. Now in the Chapel Hill election, we have three running for mayor, including the incumbent and nine running for the four Council seats, including three incumbents. I think back in 2001 we had 10 running for the Council and 12 in 2003, so this might be as interesting as those elections were.

These are important times at all levels of government, and clearly, elections matter. Just because we also know that the campaign time can easily be referred to as “silly season,” that’s no reason for us to tune out. Thus, I really perked up the other day when I heard the “What You’re Saying on the Street” segment. People were asked if they followed the news surrounding local elections and if they were interested in local politics. Some answered affirmatively and explained why they follow local politics while some of our citizens indicated that they were just too busy, just not interested or elections just didn’t affect them that much.

Well, now is the time to get interested, so learn about the issues and the candidates, and register if you aren’t already. You have to be a citizen who votes. So come on people, elections do affect each one of us, so get informed and act as if our future depends on who is elected, because our future does.