Category: Wilkes County

Redistricting on hold due to gerrymandering...AGAIN

12/16/2021

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Dec 8th ordered that the state's March 2022 primary be delayed until May 17th so it can settle two lawsuits challenging Republican-drawn maps for Congress and the state's legislature. This also affects the filing timeframe since the primary is now postponed for an additional 2 months. That filing period is yet to be determined as of press time.

The non-partisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project has rated the recent North Carolina congressional map presented in November with an "F" for fairness, calling it one of the most gerrymandered maps in the nation. With the latest map, Republicans would have been all but guaranteed to win 10 of the 14 seats.

The way Watauga was mangled as part of the new 11th District (which included Wilkes and would have changed us from the 5th District to the 11th) to guarantee that Virginia Foxx would continue to win was particularly laughable. It dipped a tiny sliver into the Watauga just enough to include one of her several homes so she could live in the "district" without having to contend with the blue-leaning voters of Watauga.

How To REALLY Support the Sanctity of Life

11/11/2021

NOTE: This letter was submitted to the Wilkes Journal Patriot by Eva Engle in response to the "Right To Life" resolution before the Wilkes County Commissioners on November 2nd, 2021.

To the Editor:

The Wilkes County Board of Commissioners in a special meeting on November 2 considered a proposed resolution which stated that Wilkes County will “defend the unalienable right to life….of all human beings”. The resolution further stated that the Board “resolves to use all means within its power to support the sanctity of human life in accordance with its God-given responsibilities as the people’s elected governing body”.

Curiously, the speakers supporting the resolution and the Commissioners apparently overlooked the greatest challenge to life in the County by not amending the resolution to add support for expanding Medicaid in North Carolina, thus providing basic medical care to Wilkes citizens who currently have no health care insurance. This measure would certainly defend the right to life of all human beings. North Carolina is one of only 12 states in the nation that has not expanded Medicaid to help low income citizens pay for medical care. U. S. Census figures show that in 2019 an estimated 11,000 residents of Wilkes County were uninsured. Those folks, when sick, end up in our doctors’ offices and the emergency room at Wilkes Regional Hospital and increase the unpaid bill accounts there.

Rural counties are especially impacted by the lack of expansion because of the strain on rural hospitals caused by emergency services provided to persons who have no health insurance. Of particular interest is the fact that five other County Boards of Commissioners in western North Carolina have adopted resolutions urging the General Assembly to expand coverage in the state. The Chair of Swain County’s Board has said, “It’s not a Republican-Democrat thing at all. It’s what the needs are within our County and the people who need these services.” How can any group of concerned citizens and a “peoples elected governing body” consider an action addressing the sanctity of life and ignore the single most important action that would directly improve the lives of citizens of our County?

A related issue for the future of Wilkes County is the continued economic health of our hospital, Wilkes Medical Center. An expansion of Medicaid would have an estimated annual positive impact of $1,300,000 on the hospital and could clearly affect its future. Is it unreasonable to expect that our elected County Board be concerned about this? Are Board members, for example, ready to supply County funds to cover a future deficit at the hospital or would they support Medicaid expansion in the state to keep the hospital open?

The issue of the uninsured is more acute in 2021 because of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. The current epidemic has likely expanded the number of those without health insurance, with one estimate that states without expansion will see a 40% increase in the uninsured. How can elected officials and citizens concerned with life in a community adopt a resolution in support of life in Wilkes in 2021 with no attention to how the County authority may address the COVID-19 threat?

The resolution under discussion concludes, “the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners hereby resolves to use all means within its power to support the sanctity of human life in accordance with its God-given responsibilities as the people's elected governing body” . The citizens of the county are right to question if using “ all means within its power” to support the sanctity of human life is met when the single most important means of expanding and improving health care in the county--Medicaid expansion--is totally ignored.

Sincerely,
Eva P. Ingle

The five Counties are Clay, Jackson, Macon, Swain, and Watauga.

99 And A Wake Up

9/3/2021

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Dispatch from Dogpatch#41

A significant date, 03 September, for it marks the anniversary of my coming home from Vietnam. There is more to it than just hopping on a jet and kissing the shit goodbye.

No matter what the day was, at 0600, my feet hit the floor. This day was different; it was my wake up day...my last in Nam. As I stretched and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I looked at my short timer's calendar - 99 and a wake up. It had one white spot left in a strategic place. I shaved and dressed making sure my short timer's ribbon was visible, just not conspicuous, walked over and ate chow at the hospital, and cleared the first sergeant’s office. The goodbyes were a celebration mixed with some sadness; a lot of us had been together for 8 months or more. We all marked our time, and some of the guys were proud of my exit cause they were getting closer to next up. The first sergeant arranged for his orderly to drive me to the air terminal. James, a cook and friend from the hospital mess, went with us to see me off.

The first stop was customs, the MPs threw my duffel aside and asked me to open my B-4 bag. My tiger stripe boonie hat lay there and the MP grabbed it as contraband. I pleaded, “hey, not that!” All he had to say was, “you want to go home?” I never said another word. After being stamped and papers shuffled, I was handed my final boarding pass. Had about another hour, and decided for one last coke. Got to the lounge and the waitress brought two cokes over, we clinked our toast and turned them up. James spewed his coke and swore that it was nasty. He held it up to the light and there suspended in the bottle was a mouse. We cussed Nam and all things military, then burst out laughing.

It began raining, pouring...monsoon pouring, as boarding began. I took my middle seat just forward of the left wing; the 707 seated 6 abreast. An Army specialist was on my left and the aisle seat remained vacant until near capacity when an Army full colonel sat beside me. Got no clue what either soldier’s name is or was. The Tiger Airways stewardesses got us settled and instructed...as I recall it was very quiet and tense.

Finally, we rolled out and the pilot awaited clearance. Once the rollout started I looked out at the rain and my last look at Vietnam. As the old girl left the runway and got maybe 600 feet she seemed to stutter and fall a couple of hundred feet. I thought oh shit, I made it a year only to die in a plane crash on take off. A collective gasp and sigh went through the cabin and a minute later the captain informed us we were now leaving Vietnam airspace. The yelling and whooping took several minutes to subside. The 6 hour flight to Kadena AB, Okinawa was underway. Served a steak supper mid flight, all was well. No alcohol…Uncle Sam knew better than to put 200 drunk GIs into Kadena.

Refueled in Kadena; we were quarantined in a pen. Once airborne, we had 13 hours to Travis AFB in San Francisco. After another meal, we tried to settle down and endure the long Pacific flyover. This time, I had a trick. I had stopped by the pharmacy a couple of days before and asked the chief if he could help me out - that I just couldn’t sleep on an aircraft. I got four seconal tablets in a small manila envelope. I pulled them from my pocket, shook two out and swallowed them. The colonel next to me asked if I had any to spare and I gave them to him. Amazingly, we awoke about an hour out of Travis and the colonel said that was the best flight he ever had. As we deplaned into a separate terminal set aside for returning GIs, I noticed a fence line full of hippies and signs of all descriptions. My first taste of antiwar sentiment. Welcome home, baby killer!

As the baggage conveyor started, I just knew that my bags would be the last, yet, they were in the first dozen. I grabbed them, rushed to customs, they waved a hand over them, and out the door I went. I needed to change to a class B uniform, having traveled in my OG107s, when my seat buddy colonel hollered at me to come get in the cab. I explained and he said he would handle everything, just get in the damn cab.

Arriving at the civilian terminal, we parted ways, never to see one another again. I dashed into the terminal and asked when the next flight to Orange County airport was and the agent said - 10 minutes. I said I needed to change, and the agent said 10 minutes...so I took the 10 minutes and duffel bag dragged my butt to the gate and made it.

The jet was one you boarded from the rear and I got a seat next to the stewardess station. After take off, two of the attendants came to me and asked if I was just returning and did I want a drink? Well, sure, and I had 3 Bloody Marys in an hour’s time all paid for by United Airlines. Upon arrival, I called my uncle and he said stay put, be there in 40 minutes. It was a clear and beautiful California evening and I dragged my gear out to the front of the terminal and just sat, just sat in the United States. Two MPs came up and asked if I had just returned and wished me well. Uncle Dick pulled up with my mom in the car and that ended my wake up day from Nam, now 51 years ago.

All this to say, we knew better. We knew better than to get involved in Afghanistan - we already had a playbook called Vietnam. When this all started, we were full of anger and rage about 9/11 and wanted to exact some revenge. When Bush declared his intention, I was livid, for I had lived the playbook. My side of this generation let the country down and cost untold amounts of lives and treasure all over again. We have not gotten smarter. As a people, we must regain control of our affairs and work for the good of humanity; to stop this constant drain on our society and look to a future that can benefit the nation as well as the world.

We can do this.

Namaste

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Honor RBG's Memory: Don't Forget The Judges

9/28/2020

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg's flag-draped casket lies in state at the US Capitol while US Congresswomen pay their respects on Sept 25th, 2020.

The news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing was a devastating blow. Over the past week, many of us have experienced a whole litany of emotion: sadness that we loss a titan for human rights and an amazing legal mind; anger that she had to battle cancer so many times and continue to work up until the very end because of the current state of our democracy; rage at the hypocrisy of the GOP as they rushed to nominate through their replacement and backpedal from all they said in 2016; and reverence at this fearless Supreme Court Justice being the first woman to ever lie in state at the US Capitol.

May her memory be a blessing.

But just as she would never rest and would continue to move forward, so must we. That is why her passing has pointed out the dire need for balance from the judicial branch at all levels of government. This election, we have many judicial races that are of vital importance at the state level. So, while Republicans are busy making sure Democrats have no voice in the composition of the US Supreme Court, we DO have a say in who will lead our NC Supreme Court, who will serve on the Supreme Court, and who will serve as justices on the NC Court of Appeals.

There are EIGHT judicial races on the ballot so you need to know who your Democratic Party judicial candidates are to lend the courts balance, fairness and, above all, dignity to those that stand before them. Whether they are victim or accused, those in the courtroom have no need for partisan ideology and demagoguery. These candidates achieve those important goals. Make sure you vote for them on your Absentee Ballot by mail, your Early In-Person Voting, or when you cast your ballot on November 3rd.

NC Supreme Court: VOTE FOR THESE THREE

NC SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE:
Cheri Beasley
chiefjusticebeasley.com
She has served on the court since 2014 and has been Chief Justice since March of 2019. Before serving on the court, she served 4 years as an Associate Judge on the NC Court of Appeals, was a District Court Judge for 10 years in the 12th District, and was a Public Defender in Cumberland County. She is the first black woman to serve as Chief Justice of NC. "I believe all North Carolinians should have access to fair and impartial justice, no matter who they are. I will continue to work for an independent court system that people can trust."

NC SUPREME COURT:
Lucy Inman
lucyinmanforjustice.com
Inman has served on the NC Court of Appeals since 2015. Prior to that, she was a NC Superior Court Judge for 4 years, a private practice trial attorney for 8 years, and was a law clerk to NC Chief Justice James Exum for 2 years. "I am running for the NC Supreme Court to preserve the rule of law, to keep our justice system fair and free from partisan politic and ideology, and to pursue equal justice for all."

NC SUPREME COURT:
Mark Davis
justicemarkdavis.com
Davis has served as a Justice on the NC Supreme Court since March of 2019. Before that, he was a Judge on the NC Court of Appeals for 6 years. He served as General Counsel to the Governor, Special Deputy Attorney General for the NC Justice Department, and was a Litigation Attorney for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. "I have written over 500 opinions as an appellate judge. I am a strong believer in judicial independence. I believe my background and judicial experience qualify me to continue serving on the Court."

NC Court of Appeals: VOTe for these FIVE

SEAT 4, COURT OF APPEALS
Tricia Shields
shieldsforjudge.com
Shields has represented clients throughout all levels of the Court System. She began as a clerk at the Court of Appeals in 1985. She is an instructor at Campbell Law School and president of a statewide attorney group. "From my 35 years of practice, I know how important it is that Court of Appeals Judges are fair, impartial, and respect the law and the impact of their decisions on real people."

SEAT 13, COURT OF APPEALS
Chris Brook
keepjudgechrisbrook.com
Appointed by Governor Cooper in 2019, he has authored more than 75 opinions that speak to his rigor and fairness. He has a long experience as a public interest attorney, including 7 years as Legal Director of the ACLU-NC. "I went to Carolina Law because of what our justice system aspires to: equal justice under the law for everyone."

SEAT 5, COURT OF APPEALS
Lora Cubbage
cubbageforjudge.com
Cubbage served for 5 years as Assistant District Attorney, 5 years as Assistant Attorney General, 2 years as District Court Judge and is currently Superior Court Judge. "To ensure: protection of rights given by the NC and US Constitutions; equal justice for all in order to regain the public trust in our judicial system; equal access to justice for all; and an independent, fair and impartial judiciary."

SEAT 6, COURT OF APPEALS
Gray Styers
styersforjudge.com
Styers served as an attorney for 30 years, was an adjunct law professor at UNC School of Law, Is a member of the NC Bar Association Board of Governors, and is the Wake County Bar Association President. He was also clerk to Chief Judge Sam Ervin III in the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals. "I am committed to the rule of law, a fair and impartial judiciary, and equal justice for all North Carolina citizens."

SEAT 7, COURT OF APPEALS
Reuben Young
keepjudgeyoung.com
In his 32 year career, Young has served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, civil litigator, Legal Counsel to a Governor, Agency Secretary, Superior Court Judge and now the NC Court of Appeals. "Fairness and accessibility are the foundations upon which our judiciary is built. I have and will continue to support equal access to the courts and a fair, impartial independent judiciary."

With your votes, you can cast a ballot to honor the memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and ensure that North Carolinians receive the justice they deserve in our courtrooms.

Common Sense

9/1/2020

The following ad ran in the Wilkes Journal Patriot in August 2020:

Gov. Cooper APPOINTS TWO TO WCC TRUSTEES BOARD

8/8/2020

Dr. Alexander Erwin

Connie Sue Cox

Governor Roy Cooper recently re-appointed Connie Sue Cox, our WCDP Treasurer, to a second term of 3 years to the Wilkes Community College Board of Trustees.

The Governor also appointed Dr. Alexander Erwin of Wilkesboro as a member-at-large to the Wilkes Community College Board of Trustees. Dr. Erwin served as an adjunct professor at North Carolina A&T University and as the Dean of Division of Education at Livingstone College. Erwin has also written over 15 publications in journals and academic settings.

Both were sworn in to the Board on August 6, 2020. Congratulations to both of these distinguished Wilkes County Democrats!

Message from the Chair, Kathryn Charles: Wilkes County Democratic Party Statement on Racism and Unity after the Killing of George Floyd

7/4/2020

Along with the rest of the country, we have watched in dismay as events continue to unfold following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. His death was the most recent reminder of the epidemic of systemic racism that continues to plague our society. Before that it was Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Freddie Gray, Laquan McDonald and many others. We now stand face to face with the ugly truth that Black lives continue to be taken with little or no consequence. We now know that we will never heal our nation’s deep wounds by remaining silent.

Responses and recent actions by the President of the United States have only exacerbated the intensity of this situation, have threatened the liberties of all Americans, and have attempted to divide us, rather than unite us.

We of the Wilkes County Democratic Party wish to make our position clear:

Racism and violence toward others on the basis of race or color is never acceptable.
We recognize the centuries-old pandemic of systemic racism and are committed to rectifying it through education, sustained activism, constructive action, and continued progress toward liberty, justice and equality for all people.

We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement to correct the wrongs of institutional racism, state-sanctioned violence against blacks, and fight for racial justice and equality for all.
We fully support ”the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” as defined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
We reject the use of violence against persons or property, either as a means of protest or as a weapon against peaceful demonstrators.

We stand in disbelief and anger at the President’s deployment of our military and the unjustified forceful clearing of lawfully assembled citizens from Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. We denounce the President’s use of a church and a Bible as a backdrop and prop for a self-aggrandizing photo opportunity.
We stand in support of General Mattis, General Allen, General Colin Powell and other military leaders in their condemnation of use of force by the U.S. military on its own citizens.

We find the characterization of assembly and protest areas as “battle spaces to be dominated” extremely alarming. This is the language of dictatorship, fascism and authoritarianism.

We stand opposed to the practices of racial gerrymandering, racially motivated voter suppression and voter intimidation.

We endorse the statements of former Vice President Joe Biden that we are currently in “a battle for the soul of America”, and that we are facing formidable enemies which include not only the coronavirus and the terrible impacts on Americans’ lives and livelihoods, but also the hatred and fear that have loomed over our national life for the last three years.

Each of us must search our hearts and minds for our own responses. Will we give in to the forces of anger, hatred, fear and division? Or will we reject those forces, reach out to those who are different from us, and make a commitment to move forward together as a nation?

Those of us in the Wilkes County Democratic Party have made our decision. We will continue to embrace inclusion and diversity, address the wrongs of the past, seek to understand one another, support constructive change, and do our part to form a more harmonious union in these United States.
If you feel the same way, we invite you to join us.

The Wilkes County Democratic Party

Kathryn Charles, Chair

Change begins with personal relationships

6/3/2020

This letter was originally published in the June 3rd Wilkes Journal Patriot
Michael Cooper Jr. is a journalist and attorney living in Raleigh. He was born and raised in North Wilkesboro. (and worked for many years here) He is a 2020 Presidential Leadership Scholar, a fellowship hosted by the George W. Bush Center, the Clinton Center, the George & Barbara Bush Foundation, and the LBJ Foundation.

I told a friend Saturday that despite everything in the news, “I’m still optimistic about the future of our country.” Look how far we’ve come. Look how close we are to living in a just and righteous world.

And my friend, Darren, who’s black, asked, “How much longer are we going to have to wait?” He was tired and he was frustrated and I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way.

Not after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. All in the last few weeks.

“Who cares if we get to the promised land if none of my people are with me,” he asked. I said these were growing pains, that we’ll get through this. But Darren quoted a line from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that hit me in the gut.

He said, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” And all week I’d been silent.

That evening I joined the protesters on the grounds of our State Capitol to stand in solidarity with those who demanded justice for the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

I saw homemade signs that were all too familiar (“Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Killing Us”) and I heard the chants of “No Justice, No Peace” as a man on the edge of the crowd played “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” on his saxophone.

Later that night, my neighbor and I walked the streets of Downtown Raleigh. We smelled the tear gas. I saw images I’d only seen in the movies: cops in riot gear and dozens of smashed windows with glass shattered all over the sidewalks. And the same thing was happening in cities across the country.

I was furious. I abhor vandalism. I hated seeing the building of a local newspaper wrecked. I saw it as counterproductive to the overall cause of getting justice for those killings.

But walking around, I understood those other words of Dr. King that, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” And for too long, too many of us hadn’t been listening.

This moment and the deaths of Floyd, Taylor and Arbery are because of something bigger than police brutality and a few bad cops.

This is about America’s original sin of racism and how that’s tied to disparities in health, income, housing, education, and how different groups of people are treated by the criminal justice system.

That’s why people are in the streets. Not just because of the killings. But because a pandemic and an economic crisis are disproportionately impacting communities of color (including in Minnesota, where African-Americans make up 6 percent of the population but a third of their deaths from COVID-19). We have work to do as a society. The way to end the riots is not to suppress these feelings until they explode again the next year or the year after that.

But instead to address the underlying causes: the racial wealth gap, policies of mass-incarceration that serve as a “New Jim Crow” and the relationship between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. But this isn’t just about public policy. It’s about the way our society still sees black Americans as different and inferior.

Equality is about putting ourselves in other people’s shoes and seeing each other as equals. It means opening doors of opportunity (on non-profit boards, with grants and scholarships and through elected office).

North Carolina has never elected a black governor or U.S. senator and Wilkes County has never had a state senator, state representative, school board member, or town commissioner who was black, and we should honestly ask ourselves why? And fix that. But if we truly want to correct racial inequalities in our society that work begins at home. We can’t change America’s statistics until we change the relationships in our lives and in our neighborhoods.

Those of us who are white should ask ourselves: When was the last time we had a black friend over for dinner? When was the last time we visited their house? When was the last time we went to a predominately black wedding?

Even better, when was the last time we went to church with someone from another race? The most segregated place in America is the inside of a church on Sunday morning. And we can pretty easily do something about that.

I’m still optimistic for the future. We’re closer than ever before to making good on our founding ideals and building a country with liberty and justice for all.

But that’s going to require some conversations that are long overdue and uncomfortable. That’s going to require listening. And for people like me that requires speaking out – to say these injustices are wrong and I think we can do better – because black Americans are tired of waiting.

David Wilson Brown holds Town Hall in Wilkes

2/23/2020

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David Wilson Brown is a candidate running to represent Wilkes County and others in the 5th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. This is the office that Virginia Foxx has held for the past 15 years, and that has recently been redistricted into a new district that reaches from Gaston and Rutherford Counties, to Ashe and Alleghany, with Wilkes remaining within.

Brown is from Gaston County, and ran 2 years ago against Patrick McHenry in what was then the 10th District. He lost narrowly then, and had already filed to take on McHenry again, but then redistricting happened so he had to refile in his new district.

In the town hall, held on February 14th at the Wilkes Agricultural Center, Brown shared some of his platform and listened to the needs and suggestions of the Wilkes County Democrats in the room.

Brown spoke of a new WPA-type of program to encourage infrastructure building, school improvements, broadband expansion into rural areas, and clean energy initiatives,...all while adding jobs to our areas. This was music to our Wilkes ears. It would have a big impact in the short term and build up our schools, highways, bridges, and parks into the North Carolina that we can be proud of again.

"Public Education is the great equalizer," stated Brown. "We MUST protect it." He spoke about his idea to make public school teachers a federal tax exempt position.

Brown spoke of his recent health scare, where he had a heart attack on Christmas Eve and underwent triple bypass surgery. His recovering is going well and he attributes it to his great medical care and young age. However, the event has made him truly empathize with the fear of huge hospital bills or the lack of quality care. Healthcare for all is a no-brainer for his platform. Think about how many people you know who are staying in a job they hate solely because they need healthcare. These are people that could be entrepreneurs, or in jobs they are passionate about, going back to school or building new economies,...but they're frozen because our health system is broken. He is committed to fixing that.

He talked of "guardrails" for capitalism and greed that seem to have taken over our economy and Washington. "Corporations have strip-mined our small towns, and local farms have been crushed by these tariffs," he stated, stressing the importance of bridging the gap for corporations to pay living wages.

He described himself as a "realistic progressive" that understands rural areas' needs.

The discussions that followed featured a former Gardner Mirror employee who recalled how Donald Trump bought mirrors for his now bankrupt casinos,...but failed pay the last 25% of his invoices. This was when the Gardner family still owned the plant and the furniture industry as a whole was shifting overseas, so the mirror factories were already struggling,...but Trump didn't care, and contributed to the struggles in Wilkes.

Brown is facing a primary against Eric Nathan Hughes, another Gaston county resident who is new to politics. You can learn more about David Wilson Brown and his campaign at https://dwb4congress.com/

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The Power of the PRecinct

2/16/2020

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On Saturday, February 15th, a collection of Democrats from across Wilkes County got together at the Wiilkes County Agricultural Center to organize their precincts as a group and to learn more about all the things that precincts can do for their communities.

Kathryn Charles welcomed the group, which featured several past Chairs of the party, and then handed the program over to Mandy Marxen for a very brief training session on the precincts of Wilkes County.

Why do we need precincts?

Systemic Voter Repression is REAL
Most people DO feel they should vote and they feel shame when they don’t
There are many obstacles and processes that interfere with the process flow of voting.
Precincts helping at the most local level can counteract all the above.

It was pointed out that in the past, precincts were often organized for short-term campaign work, just in the months leading up to an election. However, the current model is one that is "community-oriented" which lends itself to greater sustainability through multiple election cycles and builds a permanent infrastructure for building the Democratic Party.

Precinct leaders act as organizers who live in the precincts themselves and have a more personal connection with their neighborhood. This type of organizing provides a service to the neighborhood as a resource to combat all those obstacles to voting. It builds a localized community of informed citizens and voters.

The main duties of a precinct:

Leadership of a precinct: Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary/Treasurer
Organize monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly meetings in your precinct
Attend the monthly Wilkes Democratic Party Executive Council Meeting
3rd Sat 10am each month
Delegates to vote at the County Convention - Sat. March 28th
VARIES BY PRECINCT but a minimum of 2. (so technically, you need 5 people to be a formally organized precinct)
Provide nominal sustaining funds to the NCDP to use for candidates state-wide. (Investment in VoteBuilder & infrastructure. Last year we got a refund)
Write resolutions to present at the County Convention
Be a resource within the community to get things done & get voters to the polls

There were two main precinct changes in Wilkes before this election: Jobs Cabin precinct was folded into the Mt. Pleasant precinct, with voting at the Champion Fire Department; and North Wilkesboro polling location was moved from the fire department to the Elks Lodge location on Cherry Street. This can lead to voter confusion, so it is up to the precinct leadership to try and get the voters educated and comfortable with these changes. They can do this through postcards, calling, meetings, flyers, posting people at the locations during the election day...and very likely all of the above.

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Redistricting on hold due to gerrymandering...AGAIN

How To REALLY Support the Sanctity of Life

99 And A Wake Up

Honor RBG's Memory: Don't Forget The Judges

NC Supreme Court: VOTE FOR THESE THREE

NC Court of Appeals: VOTe for these FIVE

Common Sense

Gov. Cooper APPOINTS TWO TO WCC TRUSTEES BOARD

Message from the Chair, Kathryn Charles: Wilkes County Democratic Party Statement on Racism and Unity after the Killing of George Floyd

Change begins with personal relationships

David Wilson Brown holds Town Hall in Wilkes

The Power of the PRecinct

THE BLOG

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