Vote?
Today's primary election day in the city of Durham. Two city council seats attracted 3 or more candidates, so about 8% 4.25% of all Durham voters will make the trek to the polls to winnow the candidates down to 2 in Ward 1 and Ward 2.
Kevin took a lot of time and wrote a lot of words to explain why he's voting for the incumbents, both in the primary and the general election next month.
I go back and forth, actually.
I've come to realize that City Council is a lot of show about a lot of things that matter very little in what it actually means to live in Durham. And the question is, do you want an entertaining show, or a boring show.
There's a couple of challengers on the ballot who will certainly make the show more entertaining. And some mornings when i wake up, i think i'll vote for them.
Not this morning, though.
I was voter number nine (get it? Number 9?) at the American Legion Hall on E. Trinity Ave. at 8 o'clock. I voted for the two incumbents.
I do wonder, though, just how long we're going to be saddled with this stupid misnamed Ward system. Our Ward representatives don't actually represent a ward. They run, and represent constituencies, city wide. They have to live within the boundaries of the ward they theoretically represent, but they're voted on by voters across the entire city. What this does, if you ask me, is continue to keep our three major political action committees (People's Alliance, Friends of Durham, Committee on the Affairs of Black People) in business, and prevents a candidate from running on a neighborhood centric platform and building a coalition from the inside out, as it were.
Long past time to change that.
UPDATE: Cora Cole-McFadden . . . . . . . 4,075 69.41
Donald A. Hughes . . . . . . . . 1,035 17.63
John Tarantino. . . . . . . . . 761 12.96
Howard Clement III . . . . . . . 3,480 60.19
Matt Drew . . . . . . . . . . 714 12.35
Sylvester Williams . . . . . . . 630 10.90
Darius M. Little . . . . . . . . 627 10.84
Sandra Howell . . . . . . . . . 331 5.72
Clement -
Kevin took a lot of time and wrote a lot of words to explain why he's voting for the incumbents, both in the primary and the general election next month.
I go back and forth, actually.
I've come to realize that City Council is a lot of show about a lot of things that matter very little in what it actually means to live in Durham. And the question is, do you want an entertaining show, or a boring show.
There's a couple of challengers on the ballot who will certainly make the show more entertaining. And some mornings when i wake up, i think i'll vote for them.
Not this morning, though.
I was voter number nine (get it? Number 9?) at the American Legion Hall on E. Trinity Ave. at 8 o'clock. I voted for the two incumbents.
I do wonder, though, just how long we're going to be saddled with this stupid misnamed Ward system. Our Ward representatives don't actually represent a ward. They run, and represent constituencies, city wide. They have to live within the boundaries of the ward they theoretically represent, but they're voted on by voters across the entire city. What this does, if you ask me, is continue to keep our three major political action committees (People's Alliance, Friends of Durham, Committee on the Affairs of Black People) in business, and prevents a candidate from running on a neighborhood centric platform and building a coalition from the inside out, as it were.
Long past time to change that.
UPDATE: Cora Cole-McFadden . . . . . . . 4,075 69.41
Donald A. Hughes . . . . . . . . 1,035 17.63
John Tarantino. . . . . . . . . 761 12.96
Howard Clement III . . . . . . . 3,480 60.19
Matt Drew . . . . . . . . . . 714 12.35
Sylvester Williams . . . . . . . 630 10.90
Darius M. Little . . . . . . . . 627 10.84
Sandra Howell . . . . . . . . . 331 5.72
Clement -
Labels: local politics
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7 Comments:
What was the rationale for the current system? How did it used to work when the city council was larger?
15 votes at Precinct 2 at 9AM.
By
toastie, at 10:15 AM
I voted at precinct #19, American Legion, about 45 minutes ago and was voter 28.
By
Steve Graff, at 1:14 PM
Now this is change we can believe in! With endorsements like these, it's no wonder nobody votes. Nothing to see here folks, just move along sheeple.
What does that T-shirt from Urban Outfitters say? Ah yes: "Voting is for old people".
Unless I'm running, of course. :-)
By
KeepDurhamDifferent!, at 1:36 PM
You may have seen Mrs. D there. She was voter #30.
Re: rationale? I've heard some people talk about how it forces candidates to adopt compromise positions to reach out to different constituencies and build coalitions across our diverse community yadda yadda yadda. For me, it was like quantum mechanics. While i was listening i could almost comprehend the reasoning going on, but as soon as i walked away, i couldn't attempt to rationally repeat the argument.
Actually, i want someone on council to represent my interests. Do your compromising after the elections.
By
Barry, at 1:39 PM
Um, I don't get the Number 9 thing.
By
Marsosudiro, at 10:08 PM
Maybe this will help.
By
Barry, at 10:13 PM
As an election judge, I'd like to say thank you very much for voting! We had 126 people vote at the precinct I work at (precinct 54) which is sadly only a pitiful 2%. Hopefully we'll get more people out for the November election.
By
Tanner Lovelace, at 3:21 PM
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