INC NEWS - voting

[pat carstensen]

Stuff on elections you might want to send to neighborhood list-serves:

where to vote:
If you want to check that you are registered and find your polling place, 
see
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/votersearch/seimsvot.htm

What's on ballot:
6 partisan races (US House, NC House, NC Senate, Sherriff, DA, and Clerk), 
about 8 judicial races and Soil and Water Commission.  Make sure you vote 
both sides of the ballot!

Over-voting and under-voting
The machines that count votes tell you if you vote for too many people (3 
people when you can only vote for 2, for example).  THey don't tell you if 
you undervote -- that is, skip a race or your friend puts your ballot in 
before you get a chance to mark it.  If you make a mistake and vote for too 
many people, you can get a new ballot and start again.  If you forget to 
vote in a race, it is tough luck.

Write-ins
Partisan races and non-partisan races have different write-in rules.  On 
non-partisan races, any name you put in counts ("my dog" gets a couple votes 
every year). On partisan races, write-in candidates need to collect enough 
signatures to become "approved write-ins."  This means that if you write in 
"Donald Duck" for DA, it won't count.  THere is only one approved write-in 
candidate for DA, but unlike in Texas, a decent approximation of spelling 
his name will count.

Straight party voting
If you vote straight party, it only covers the 6 partisan races.  If you 
want to vote for judges (and you should), you have to vote for each judicial 
race individually.  Straight party votes are "defaults" so if you vote for, 
say the People's Party and Jane Candidate for DA, you have voted from Jane 
even if she is running as a Reform Party candidate.

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