(Since I had two errors in this article last week I am running it again this week. Hopefully everything is correct. I mostly slept through the weekend and Florence so am not able to provide the candidates for school board, county commissioner and sheriff. Really, I will do it for next week.)
The Wake Forest Gazette plans to ask several area candidates their views. To make it relevant to the readers in Wake and Franklin counties, we want to know what you would like to ask the candidates for the North Carolina legislature, the Wake County district attorney, the Wake County commissioners, the Wake County sheriff, the Wake County Board of Education, the North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
We may have to dial it back a bit and concentrate on three or four races. Please send the questions you would like to ask to the editor, Carol Pelosi, at cwpelosi@aol.com.
We are not including the contest for District 13 for the U.S. representative to Congress for two reasons. The first is that the incumbent, three-term Republican George Holding, has not replied to any requests in the past.
The second is that the gerrymandered seat he holds has been declared unconstitutional but, because of the late date, the successful petitioners for new voting districts have agreed to let the election proceed even though the demographics are skewed against Holding’s opponent, Democrat Linda Coleman. We do hope voters keep that in mind when they vote.
The contests for seats in the North Carolina General Assembly will determine whether the Republicans, who hold a veto-proof majority, continue to rule or whether newly-elected Democrats can change the balance of power.
Some of the vital issues are whether the state will respond to the dangers of climate change and pollution – leaking coal ash beds, the pollutants in Jordan Lake; the access of women to abortion and birth control if/when the U.S. Supreme Court leaves control of both to the states; voting maps which give all people across the state an equal voice in state and federal government; equal access to voting for everyone; and adequate school funding and teacher salaries as several examples.
The candidates in Senate District 18 are, in the order they will be listed on the ballots, Brad Hessel, a Libertarian; Mack Paul, a Democrat; and John Alexander, a Republican and the incumbent.
The candidates in House District 35 are Chris Malone, a Republican and the incumbent; Michael Nelson, a Libertarian; and Terence Everitt, a Democrat.
The candidates in House District 40 are Joe John, a Democrat and the incumbent; David Ulmer, a Libertarian; and Marilyn Avila, a Republican.
We will collect the questions you ask with a cut-off date of Sept. 24 so we can pose them to the candidates and publish their answers in the Oct. 3 issue.
Next week we will have a list of the candidates for the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education as well as Wake County District Attorney and Sheriff for readers to pose questions and get answers in October also.
Meanwhile, readers need to check their voter registration and register if they have not done so yet. The deadline for registration to vote in the Nov. 6 election is Friday, Oct. 12. The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct. 30. Anyone can ask for an absentee ballot.
