Nonpartisan Elections: What's a Libertarian To Do?
Contributed by Brian Irving
Nonpartisan elections, common for North Carolina municipal offices, pose somewhat of a dilemma for Libertarians. Local elections are about such mundane issues as garbage collection, traffic, economic development and "quality of life." Candidates generally don't come even close to espousing libertarian ideas and oftentimes, there is simply no libertarian (big or small L) running. Of course, you could always write-in your own name, especially in races where the incumbent is unopposed.So what’s a libertarian to do? We can do what we’re good at: research,checking facts. The Raleigh News & Observer has a special elections section on the website at http://share.triangle.com/node/9086. And there are other sources, including the Independent Weekly. Being the Internet savvy crowd that we are, most libertarians probably want to check out the web.
Here’s a list of candidates in Wake County, Raleigh and Cary, along with a link to their websites.
Raleigh City Council
October 9 election; top two go to Nov.6 runoff
Mayor
Charles Meeker (i)
At-Large
Paul Anderson; www.andersonatlarge.com
Will Best
Russ Stephenson (i); www.RussForRaleigh.com,
Helen Tart
David Williams; www.WilliamsforRaleigh.com
District A
Tommy Craven (i)Nancy McFarlane; www.nancymcfarlane.com
District B
Rodger Koopman; www.rodgerkoopman.com
Angel M. Menendez
Jessie Taliaferro (i)
District C
James West (i)District D
Thomas G. Crowder (i); www.CrowderForCouncil.com
District E
Philip R. Isley (i)
Cary Town Council
(October 9 election, Instant Runoff Voting)
Mayor
Ernest F. McAlister (i)
Harold Weinbrecht
At Large
Roger E. Hill
Susan Lawson (withdrew)
Erv Portman (i); www.ErvPortman.com
District B
Don Frantz
Nels Roseland (i)
District D
Gale Adcock; www.galeadcock.com
Omar Ali
Wake County Board of Education
(October 9 election)District 3
Kevin Hill
Martha LaVance,
Alfreda Wilson
District 4
Rosa Gill (i)District 5
Anne McLaurin,District 6
Edmund (Ed) Armogida
Beverley S. Clark (i)
Sean O'Brien
John Zal
District 8
Ron Margiotta (i)
--Editor's note: Several of the candidate websites are no longer accessible, so the links have been removed.
2 Comments:
In the state of Washington, we have found it very effective to run for nonpartisan offices. Our vote totals are almost always higher than in partisan races.
Indeed, some of us have been ELECTED to nonpartisan office. Then the real fun begins.
In the Cary town council at-large race, Roger Hill has also withdrawn. Interesting note: if either of the candidates who withdrew wins, the seat will be declared vacant!
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