Clerk talks:

Dennis Stephenson, a clerk at the Bryson City post office, supplied the following statement in an affidavit taken by Swain County election board member John Herrin.

Two Swain County residents claim they were victims of illegal voter intimidation during the November election.

The following testimony was provided by Rhonda Bedsaul, 47, of Swain County. A similar account was provided by Bedsaul’s husband, Ron, 42. Both affidavits have been turned over to the state election board for further investigation.

The surge in early voting witnessed in the last election has prompted the Swain County election board to hunt for a new office location.

As the Cherokee election season gets under way in the race for chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, there’s one dynamic that won’t be at play: catering to the hundreds of enrolled tribal members who live in far-flung states.

It’s time to change the voting laws and procedures in North Carolina to reflect today’s reality and to help alleviate a confusing situation that could hurt candidates and confuse voters.

Come Nov. 7, voters will choose candidates based on many different factors. In almost all cases, those choices will be their own, as they should. But newspaper endorsements continue to serve a useful purpose for voters.

By Lee Shelton

As the Nov. 7 election date approaches, the “Good Governance Legion” is, again, “banging their noise makers” in Haywood County.

When word of a shooting in Whittier roused Swain County Sheriff Bob Ogle from his house last Thursday night, he arrived at a complex crime scene.

As the front page of this week’s paper illustrates, it’s election season. Trouble is, it’s just not feeling much like it yet. U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and Heath Shuler, this Democratic challenger from Waynesville, are still mostly preaching to their respective choirs at local party events.