Sporting a red Obama hat, a matching “Change Rocks” t-shirt and a “Barack Obama 2012” button, Ron Frendreis approached the first house on his list.

With pen, papers and clipboard in hand, he climbed the concrete steps to a white duplex with fellow campaign volunteer Jane Harrison, knocked on the door marked 82, and then waited.

Mike Clampitt, a candidate running for the state House, is hosting “Mornings with Mike” from 7-8 a.m. every Tuesday at 58D Sunrise Park Dr. in Sylva through Oct. 30.

The event features Clampitt, but other Republican candidates running for office in the area may participate. Clampitt will listen to concerns of the district and offer his ideas as to how to deal with those concerns from Raleigh. Clampitt plans to continue these group meetings quarterly, if elected to the House, in order to remain in contact with his constituents.

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The Mountain High Republican Women’s Club will host Billy Kirkland, the national field director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, at its September luncheon meeting held at 11:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Highlands Country Club.

Kirland’s conservative credentials include working with the Virginia House Republican Campaign Caucus and as a regional field director for the Georgia GOP that helped re-elect Gov. Sonny Perdue. RSVP by Aug. 31. The cost of the lunch is $25 when reserved in advance or $30 at the door.

Inquiries may be mailed to MHRWC, P.O. Box 126 in Cashiers.

828.526.4146 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Hayden Rogers, Democratic candidate for the 11th Congressional District, will hold a fundraising event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 25 at the Maggie Valley Pavilion on Soco Road.

Meet and speak with the candidate as well as enjoy good food and fellowship. The local band Gray Wolf will be performing. 828.452.9607 or www.haywooddemocrats.org.

Verbal sparring over key campaign issues in this fall’s state senate race was lively and pointed between N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and former Democratic state Sen. John Snow at an Aug. 9 forum the Macon County League of Women Voters hosted in Franklin.

Mark Meadows won the second primary on July 17 by a sweeping majority.

The conservative Republican candidate for U.S. Congress garnered 76.3 percent of the vote Tuesday.

Elections are upon us again.

Although the primary has come and gone and the general election is still months away, voters are being asked to head to the polls July 17 to weigh in once more on some of May’s tighter races. Run-off elections typically post dismally low turnout among voters.

Counties in North Carolina are being forced to shoulder the burden of electronic voting machines alone after the General Assembly turned down federal aid that would have greatly offset the costs.

Two weeks after the primary election, an official winner has finally been declared following a recount in an insanely tight race between two prominent Waynesville Democrats for the N.C. House of Representatives.

Joe Sam Queen beat out Danny Davis by a mere 17 votes — less than 0.002 percent of the 9,969 votes cast in the race.

“It definitely shows that one vote can make a difference,” said Lisa Lovedahl-Lehman, the director of the Jackson County Board of Elections.

While Democrats were clearly torn on which man they wanted to send to Raleigh, Queen said he is pleased to win.

“I want to pull together because this is an important year,” said Queen, who will now face the Republican opponent Mike Clampitt from Swain County come November.

Queen and Clampitt are vying for the N.C. House seat currently held by retiring Rep. Phil Haire, D-Sylva. The seat represents Jackson and Swain counties and the greater Waynesville and Lake Junaluska area of Haywood County. The district leans strongly Democratic.

The race between Queen and Davis came down to the wire on election night, with Queen emerging as the top vote-getter by a mere 11 votes. Queen’s margin widened to an 18-vote lead the following week after a few dozen provisional ballots and late absentee ballots were added to the results.

Provisional ballots are cast when poll workers can’t find a voter’s name on the roster of registered voters. They are given a provisional ballot, which is then set aside in a special stack until election workers have a chance to research whether the ballot should be counted.

A few late absentee ballots usually trickle in after the election as well, but as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, they get counted.

Davis then called for a recount — a right entitled to any candidate under state election law when a race is within a 1-percent margin.

In today’s era of computerized voting terminals, however, recounts rarely change the outcome. But, Davis did pick up one extra vote in the recount, discovered by election workers in Jackson County when hand counting a handful of paper ballots from voters who mailed in absentee ballots.

“They just didn’t do the bubble correctly,” Lovedahl-Lehman said. “The scanner wouldn’t read it, but the board members could look at it and see the voter intent was for Davis.”

Queen said he and Davis both ran fair, clean campaigns.

“It is by far the most pleasant election I have been through,” said Queen.

A recount is likely in the race for N.C. House of Representatives between two well-known and prominent Waynesville Democrats, Danny Davis and Joe Sam Queen. The race came down to the wire on election night last week, with Queen emerging as the top vote-getter by a mere 11 votes.

Results on election night are considered “unofficial” for another week, however, until election workers have a chance to weed through a few dozen provisional ballots and late absentees and determine if any should be counted.

Those provisional and late absentees were processed Tuesday but failed to change the outcome of the race.

Davis picked up an additional 13 votes, while Queen picked up an additional 19 votes — so Queen actually widened his margin of victory from 11 votes to 17.

Queen and Davis were vying for the N.C. House seat currently held by retiring Rep. Phil Haire, D- Sylva. The seat represents Jackson, Swain and the greater Waynesville and Lake Junaluska area of Haywood County. The winner in the Democratic primary will face the Republican opponent Mike Clampitt from Swain County come November.

Given how close the race is, Davis said he will likely call for a recount. Under state election law, any candidate can request a recount in any race. The state election board then decides whether one is warranted.

If a race is within 1 percent, however, the state is obligated to conduct a recount if the runner-up requests it.

“There is a reason the state has a mandatory recount if it is less than 1 percent,” Davis said, explaining why he would most likely ask for a recount.

Davis spent 26 years as a District Court judge in the seven western counties. Queen, an architect with a side business managing a vast inventory of rental property, has served six years in Raleigh as a state senator.

Both candidates were holding their breath in the days following last week’s election, curious whether some 115 provisional ballots and a handful of late absentee ballots would alter the outcome of the race.

Provisional ballots are cast on Election Day when poll workers can’t find a voter’s name on the roster of registered voters. They are given a provisional ballot, which is then set aside in a special stack until election workers have a chance to research whether the ballot should be counted.

“Every voter has the right to vote. They are given a provisional and if it is cleared they count. If not, they don’t,” said Joan Weeks, director of the Swain County Board of Elections.

There are several reasons why someone’s name might not show up on the roster at the polls. Perhaps they registered to vote under their maiden name, but give poll workers their married name. Perhaps they thought they registered at some point but in fact had not.

Often, they registered to vote in another county and didn’t realize they have to re-register to vote when they move.

This is particularly common in Jackson County, where college students at Western Carolina University registered in their hometown but show up at the polls on Election Day thinking they can vote in Jackson.

Election workers across the state hold a “canvas” the week after the election, where they go through all the provisional ballots and decide which, if any, are legitimate.

Ultimately, the majority don’t count.

“Legally you can’t say ‘No you can’t vote,’ but in the end most of them are not going to count,” Lisa Lovedahl-Lehman, director of the Jackson County Election Board, said.

But there are a few instances where a voter has indeed registered yet doesn’t show up in the official roster at the polls.

Sometimes, people will register to vote at the Division of Motor Vehicles when getting a driver’s license. The DMV then transmits the voter registration to the appropriate county election board. Occasionally, it gets sent to the wrong county or something simply goes wrong with the transfer.

“There are times, albeit rare, when you put a batch of things in the scanner and somebody at DMV had syrup on their hands and two of them stick together and one of them doesn’t scan,” said Robert Inman, director of the Haywood County Election Board.

As for the majority of provisional ballots that never get counted, how that person voted will never be known. Election workers first verify whether the ballot is eligible, and only then is the ballot opened and counted. Whether those not counted could have changed the outcome of the election remains a mystery.

“This is not five card draw where you have to show your hand,” Inman said.

When none of the Republican candidates for Congress garnered 40 percent of the votes during the May 8 primary, the election got more complicated.

Rather than narrowing the long list of candidates to two — one Republican and one Democrat — the primary left Republicans with two candidates who will participate in a second primary on June 26. That delay could possibly give the Democratic nominee, Hayden Rogers, a head start going into the November general election as the two remaining Republican candidates, Vance Patterson and Mark Meadows, continue to duke it out for their party’s nomination for another six weeks.

“Does it make it more difficult? Yes. Does it make it impossible? No,” Meadows said.

The field was already overflowing with candidates from both sides of the aisle looking to snatch up the seat of departing Congressman Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville. Eight Republicans lined up to fight for the position, while three distinct Democratic candidates jumped into the ring for a comparatively easy battle amongst themselves.

With so many Republican candidates, it was difficult for voters to distinguish most of them from Adam. So, when May 8 finally rolled around, voters in the Republican primary split their ballots too many ways.

Meadows received nearly 38 percent of the votes — just 2 percentage points shy of the need 40 percent for the nomination. Meanwhile, Patterson, who garnered 23.6 percent of the votes, will have a second chance in a runoff.

Meadows, 52 of Cashiers, is the candidate who drew the short end of the stick, said Chris Cooper, an associate professor of political science at Western Carolina University.

“It’s a good day for Hayden. It’s a good day for Patterson. It’s not so good a day for Meadows,” Cooper said. “It has complicated Meadows’ life.”

A second primary means a divide in campaign funding and volunteers and no one for the Republican Party as a whole to gather their support behind.

“You are splitting everything a campaign needs between two candidates,” Cooper said.

Although a runoff is not the ideal situation for Meadows, the May 8 primary showed that he has a broad base of support. Meadows won the majority of votes in all but four counties in the district.

“It doesn’t mean he will win, but he is clearly the frontrunner going forward,” Cooper said.

Meadows will have to make a strategic decision — to run against Patterson only until June or position his message as if he has secured the nomination, Cooper said.

Although he hit a snag, Meadows said his strategy for the election will not change, and he will continue to focus on appealing to all voters, not just one group.

“Instead of talking about other candidates, we have talked about our message,” Meadows said. “We are going to go ahead with our message — less government, less spending.”

As for Patterson, Cooper said his best option is to focus on the runoff race.

“Patterson needs to aim to beat Meadows, and Meadows has a tough choice to make,” Cooper said.

And, that is exactly what Patterson said he plans to do.

“A lot of the work’s been done,” said Patterson, who started the race with little to no name recognition. “I just need to make sure I can differentiate myself from Mark (Meadows).”

In most cases, second place is a disappointment, but for Patterson, runner up in the Republican congressional primary is exactly what he was aiming for.

“We are really where we hoped to be,” Patterson said. “We were hoping to make the runoff.”

Patterson said he thinks that he can close the gap in support during the next six weeks.

“Why would I not continue on? We’ve got good momentum,” Patterson said. “We made the playoffs, and when your team makes it into the playoffs, anything can happen.”

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is in a difficult position since it cannot officially support anyone until a nominee is chosen. The Democratic Party, however, can start putting its political weight and funding behind Hayden Rogers, a Blue Dog Democrat and former chief of staff to Shuler.

“It puts us at a tremendous disadvantage,” said Ralph Slaughter, chair of the Jackson County Republican Party. “It would make it much easier if my job was supporting one person as opposed to two people.”

The cost of a runoff

Close races come at a cost — a steep cost for cash-strapped counties that can ill afford to stage a special “do-over” election when no clear victor emerges the first time around.

When there’s a crowded field, as there was in this year’s Republican primary contest for Congress, if none of the candidates secure at least 40 percent of the votes cast, the runner-up has the right to call for a special run-off election.

And that means county taxpayers must foot the bill. How much?

“More than $25,000 and probably close to $30,000,” said Robert Inman, director of Haywood County’s Board of Elections. “We are looking at a major expense.”

Jackson County’s board budgeted $25,000 to cover the cost of any runoffs this year, but it is unclear if it will need to find more.

“It’s just really hard to tell,” said Lisa Lovedahl-Lehman, director of the Jackson County BOE. “I base (the amount) on past years.”

Haywood County hasn’t budgeted any additional money specifically for such cases.

“We just kind of have to pay those bills as they come along,” Inman said. “Haywood County has not budgeted any (funds) at all, not one penny.”

Instead, the money is a mixture of any leftover elections funding and county contingency funds.

The Macon County’s Board of Elections estimated its cost to be between $20,000 and $25,000.

Cost depends on a number of variables: How many runoff elections there are? How many machines and employees will be required to man the polls? How many early voting sites must it operate? Are there runoffs for both Democratic and Republican races, which would up the number of ballots needed?

“You are basically turning around and doing another election,” said Joan Weeks, director of the Swain County Board of Elections.

The Swain County board will have to return once again with its hands out to the Board of Commissioners to help pay for any runoffs. The election board approached the commissioners earlier this year asking for money to pay for an early voting site in Cherokee. Now, it will go back for more funding. The total cost of an election in Swain County is between $6,000 and $12,000.

Primaries typically report low turnouts anyway — ranging from 12 to 30 percent during the past decade.  

For runoffs, or secondary primaries, voter turnout numbers are far lower. Runoff turnouts are anywhere from 2 percent to 12 percent of registered voters, Lovedahl estimated.

It is nearly impossible to replicate the emotion that first drove voters to the polls for the primary or that will drive them to the polls come November.

“You can’t change the emotion that they had the first time,” Inman said.

“The cost leaves some wondering if the restrictions are too tight. I wonder if there is not perhaps a better way.” said Ralph Slaughter, chair of the Jackson County Republican Party. 

Like a game of musical chairs, three Republican candidates for county commissioners are circling Haywood County and hoping they can secure one of the two places on the November election ballot.

Only two of the Haywood County Board of Commissioners seats are up for re-election this year. Two candidates from each party will advance to the general election in November.

Since three Republicans declared their candidacy, voters will have to narrow that number to two during the primary.

Among local, state and federal elections, jobs and the economy still seem to be voters’ main concern. And, the Haywood commissioners election is no different.

“We are borrowing a lot of money,” said Denny King, one of the Republican commissioner candidates. “I will not vote to raise taxes; I will not vote to go deeper into debt.”

The county has not been conservative enough with its money. For example, it should not be paying for the maintenance and upkeep on the MARC building, which is rented by elderly-focused nonprofits for $1 a year, King said. That same perk isn’t being offered to any of the other institutions that do good work in the county, he said.

“I wouldn’t expect us as a county to rent a church for $1 a year,” King said.

King also stated that he believes property owners are paying too much in taxes.

“I will support reducing the size of the burden that property owners pay,” King said.

Candidate Tracy Coward said residents are not getting enough bang for their buck when it comes to county spending. The county’s overall budget is about $65 million.

“I just don’t see where we are getting our money’s worth,” Coward said.

“In a lot of cases, they have done a good job in saving money and cutting down on expenditures, but I think there is a lot more that could be done,” Coward continued.

The current Board of Commissioners has expressed support for state legislation that would allow counties to consolidate redundant services within DSS and the health department.

Incumbent Kevin Ensley touted achievements that the board has accomplished during his current term. In particular, he noted that the board has saved money by privatizing the county landfill and maintained the tax rate despite having to make difficult job cuts.

“We have been able to make the cuts that we needed to without raising taxes,” Ensley said.

Ensley is currently the only Republican member of the five-person board.

Constituents have talked to candidates about their concerns going into this year’s election — and a main anxiety is jobs.

Coward said he can provide a “fresh set of eyes” to such concerns and will vote for what he thinks is best for the county and its people.

Young people continue to leave Haywood County because there are not enough available jobs, Coward said, and the county should work harder to help create more employment opportunities.

One way to create jobs, Ensley said, is through water and sewer projects — something he is a big proponent of. Up-to-date water and sewer systems are a must-have amenity for many businesses if they are looking at moving to a particular area. By building new and updating old systems, the county can create construction jobs and hopefully attract new businesses that will hire county residents, Ensley said.

Haywood Commissioner Republican primary: choose two

Tracy Coward, 55, Waynesville

Background: Coward is a maintenance technician at Continental and a former adjunct professor at Haywood Community College. Coward has never run for political office before.

Why are you running: “We need business experience on the board, but it seems like sometimes these folks have their own interests in mind. I was wanting to give the little man some representation.”

L. Kevin Ensley, 50, Waynesville

Background: Ensley has served on the Board of County Commissioners for eight years. He is surveyor by profession.

Why are you running: “I feel like I have provided some leadership in making sure we practice some budget austerity, which we have. I wanted to continue providing that leadership.”

Denny King, 52, Canton

Background: King is currently an engineer at BorgWarner in Asheville. He ran for county commissioner unsuccessfully one time before. This election season, King filed to run but later had second thoughts and tried to get his name taken off the ballot. “I really don’t want to comment on that. I am running to win.”

Why are you running: “I had a lot of encouragement to run, and many people in our county want a voice. They believe I will listen to their thoughts and concern.”