By Kirk Stephens • Guest Columnist | Our nation will hold an election this November, as it has always done, without regard of war or peace, prosperity or uncertainty. The Covid-19 pandemic will present a unique set of challenges, but as much as possible, the election will be conducted as normally as possible. As Chairman of the Jackson County Board of Elections, I would like to share some specifics of what you should expect when voting this year.

There’s no incumbent on the ballot for Jackson County’s District 4 commission seat, but voters will still find themselves choosing between a known quantity and a new contender this election season.

During its Sept. 3 meeting, Tribal Council voted unanimously to approve a slate of changes to its election ordinance ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline enshrined in Cherokee law. 

The major party candidates seeking the NC11 congressional seat recently left vacant by former Rep. Mark Meadows spent much of the first two debates attacking each other and defending themselves against those attacks, but now that controversial tweets by one of them have resurfaced, there’s even more focus on how the current partisan discord is turning modern political discourse into a war of words that can never be won. 

What’s happening in North Carolina right now with absentee ballot requests is staggering. 

Currently there are around 7.1 million registered voters in North Carolina. Breaking it down, there are 2.55 million Democrats, 2.13 million Republicans, and 2.37 million unaffiliated and a sprinkling of Green, Libertarian and other party affiliations.

The Cherokee Tribal Council is likely to vote this week on proposed changes to several sections of the tribe’s election ordinance. 

It’s been almost exactly 100 years since the 19th Amendment — often called the Anthony Amendment — was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920.

Up until last week, the nonpartisan races for four school board seats — plus the chairman’s position — looked to be rather sleepy, with only one candidate filling. But as the noon deadline approached on Friday, July 17, a flurry of candidates threw their hats in the ring to ensure some lively contests in the fall. 

How, exactly, does someone lose a Primary Election in which they have almost a year’s exclusive advance knowledge of the seat’s impending vacancy, and the endorsement of the four-term incumbent who previously held the seat, and more than a million dollars in PAC money, and the full support of the President of the United States?

As Republicans across North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District head to the polls, some of them are bucking their party and their president by putting principle over politics.