Category: Election

December Joy

12/23/2019

Candidates shared a little holiday joy with us at our December monthly meeting of Wilkes County Democratic Party. We had some great interaction to these candidates and they were so generous with their time.

Clockwise from upper Right:

David Wilson Brown (US Congress 5th)
Jerome Watkins (Wilkes County Commissioners)
Jeanne Supin (NC Senate 45)
Chalma Hunt (Wilkes County Commissioners)

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Many Republicans have come to believe they will lose fair elections with high voter turnout

12/29/2018

The following is an article in the Friday NYtimes Opinion by David Leonhardt

While much of the country was focused on Donald Trump’s shocking victory in the presidential election two years ago, Republicans in North Carolina were attempting a brazen power grab. After their nominee — the sitting governor — lost re-election in November 2016, Republicans in the state decided to weaken the governor’s office. The state legislature passed two bills stripping the governor of some powers, and the outgoing governor, Pat McCrory, signed them.

In doing so, McCrory and his allies rejected the peaceful transfer of power that is essential to democracy. They instead chose the peaceful transfer of some power.

In 2018, it became clear that this problem extended beyond North Carolina. Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan followed the same strategy. Perhaps the most chilling aspect is that Trump had nothing to do with these power grabs. Most of the leadership of the Republican Party in each state decided that their overriding goal was partisan power.

Along similar lines, Republicans in many states also pushed to make voting more difficult. They closed polling places, reduced voting hours and introduced ludicrous bureaucratic hurdles — like requiring Native Americans who have no street address to have one in order to vote.

The struggle over American democracy is my choice for the year’s second most significant news story. It’s a struggle that goes to the core of American ideals and that will affect politics for years.

Fortunately, it’s also a struggle that has now been joined. This country has the beginnings of the pro-democracy movement that it needs.

In Florida, 65 percent of voters — which means large numbers of Democrats, Republicans and independents — approved a ballot initiative restoring the voting rights of people who had been convicted of a felony. In Missouri, 62 percent of voters approved a law to reduce corruption and gerrymandering. Pro-democracy initiatives also passed in a few other states. At the federal level, House Democrats have promised to make electoral reform the subject of the first bill they offer, after taking control next month.

Voting fairness isn’t simply a Democrat-versus-Republican story. In New Jersey, state Democrats recently pushed for an inequitable new gerrymandering plan — until progressive activists beat back the plan. Gerrymandering remains a problem in other blue states, like Illinois and Maryland. Across parts of the West, meanwhile, Republican officials have supported an expansion of voting by mail.

But if both parties deserve some blame, they don’t deserve anywhere near equal blame. The efforts to restrict voting (and the attempts at cheating) have come overwhelmingly from Republicans, while the efforts to expand voting access have come mostly from Democrats. The reason is obvious enough. Many Republicans have come to believe they will lose fair elections with high voter turnout.

In 2019 and beyond, I’ll be rooting for more Republican leaders to decide they can win elections the old-fashioned way: By persuading more voters that they deserve to win. Until they do, I hope voters across the political spectrum will punish Republican politicians who decide they care more about power than democracy. They’re going down a very dangerous road.

Sample Ballots for Each Wilkes PRECINCT: Midterms 2018 edition

10/27/2018

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Regardless of which of the 28 Wilkes County precincts in which you reside, we have a sample ballot to help you know how to mark YOUR ballot in the 2018 midterm elections. Be it early voting on on the day, you can print off this sample ballot and take it INTO the voting booth with you so you know how to vote. It's a great way to be sure you don't forget any of the races,...like that lil ol' Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor,...and insure that your voice is heard loud and clear.

WILKES PRECINCTS: Boomer, brushy Mountain, cricket, fairplains, millers creek, moravian falls, mulberry, new castle, north wilkesboro, rock creek 1, somers, traphill 2 and wilkesboro 1, wilkesboro 2, and wilkesboro 3.

This is the sample ballot for "D94" for precincts in the eastern and southern precincts of the county...

Wilkes Precincts: Antioch, Edwards 1, Edwards 2, Ferguson, Jobs Cabin, Mount Pleasant, Mulberry 1, Reddies River, Rock Creek 2, Traphill1, Union & Walnut Grove

District 90 with basically the northern and western Wilkes precincts...

EDWARDS 3 and TOWN of ELKIN

Last, but not least, this is the sample ballot for "Elkin" which includes the Wilkes Precinct of Edwards 3, as well as Town of Elkin. Yeah, we know it makes no sense, but here we are.

If you don't know what precinct you're in, you can type your address into the NC State Board of Elections Voter Lookup Tool and it'll tell you all your districts as well as your voting precinct. You can also use this tool to look up the precincts and registration status of your family and friends to make sure they're registered and know where to vote.

For more information on where to vote on Election Day, and a general map of the precincts, you can visit the Wilkes County Democrats' Voter Tools page on our website.

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Dianne Little Standing Up As The True Education Candidate

9/6/2018

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[The following was written by J.W. Williamson at 9/03/2018 08:12:00 AM for Watauga Watch blog ]

Dianne Little in NC House District 94

Few other things a candidate does will get my attention like direct voter contact ... doors knocked, phone calls made, hands shaken.

That's why I sat up when I saw the numbers of direct voter contact for Democrat Dianne Little, running next door in House District 94 (Alexander and part of Wilkes counties). Only one other candidate for the General Assembly has higher numbers, and none of this year's Democratic stars in Wake, Mecklenburg, and Guilford have come close to hustling like Dianne Little is hustling.

We like her campaign theme: "Brave Enough to Say ENOUGH!" That's aimed at the corruption and misrule flowing out of Raleigh. Here's how her platform pokes at the current Republican super majority in the NC House and Senate:

✤ They have funneled money designated for public schools – our tax dollars – into private schools; and they have allowed charter schools to increase in number while public schools have lost enrollment.

✤ They have allowed teacher salaries to plummet to as low as 47th in the nation, taken away the due process that employees need for fair treatment, and robbed educators of professional development funding and master’s degree stipends.

✤ Those same leaders have denied equal access to quality healthcare for all North Carolina residents and have failed to provide access to health insurance.

✤ They watched our environment be polluted while refusing to hold the polluters accountable for the clean-up cost, and instead, passed that cost on to taxpayers.

✤ They have placed a larger tax burden on the shoulders of the average citizen and given huge tax breaks to larger corporations.

She's a veteran educator with over 40 years active experience in teaching, so naturally she's got education at the top of her issues. She taught at Alexander Central High School for 23 years, served as assistant principal and principal at Newton-Conover High School, and now is the director of the Phillips Leadership Institute at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory.

More importantly, she's obviously got a corps of volunteers working for her, which means more than a large bank account.

Who's she running against? This dude, Jeffrey Elmore, first elected to the NC House in 2012. We remember him mainly from the Republican primary he ran against Dan Soucek in 2010 for the NC Senate Dist. 45, which Soucek ultimately won.

While Little decries the backhand that public education has suffered during Elmore's term in office, Elmore can manage only a shrug: In 2014, he said "issues with abolishing teacher tenure would have to sort themselves out." Now, there's a leader!

He's hardcore on every issue where moderation might expose some humanity.

He doesn't appear to be taking Dianne Little seriously. If his Facebook page is any indication -- he hasn't posted anything since May, which was a new profile photo -- he appears to expect to coast back into office, and his website still says he represents Allegheny County, which was under a previous map.

Smugness in an incumbent in a year like 2018 might be a stumbling block.

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Local early voting sites cut to two

8/6/2018

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Reprinted from Wilkes Journal Patriot - story by Jule Hubbard - Aug 3rd, 2018

The Wilkes County Board of Elections has decided to provide two satellite one-stop, early voting sites in the county this fall after opting for four satellite sites for the general elections in 2016 and 2014 and three in 2010.

The four-member board on Tuesday morning approved a one-stop, early voting plan with satellite sites at the Pleasant Hill and Millers Creek fire stations for this year’s non-presidential general election. The plan now goes to the N.C. Board of Elections for approval.

The Millers Creek Fire Station by far has had the largest one-stop, early voting turnout in the past, while the Pleasant Hill and Mulberry-Fairplains fire stations have ranked second with similar turnouts. Wilkes Board of Elections Director Kim Caudill said the Millers Creek and Pleasant Hill fire stations were also chosen because Millers Creek is in the western end of Wilkes and Pleasant Hill is in the eastern end.
The Mountain View Ruritan Club building was also a satellite site in 2016 and 2014.

The two satellite sites are in addition to a required site at a central location, which for Wilkes is the county commissioners’ meeting room on the first floor of the Wilkes County Office Building in Wilkesboro.

Voter turnout in 2014 (the last non-presidential general election) included Millers Creek Fire Station, 745; Mulberry-Fairplains Fire Station, 377; Pleasant Hill Fire Station, 334; and Mountain View Ruritan Club building, 198. The total at the Wilkes County Office Building in 2014 was 3,582.

Under a state law enacted earlier this year, each county must provide one-stop, early voting at a central location for 13 weekdays from Oct. 17 through Nov. 2, plus Saturday, Nov. 3. Weekdays hours at this one mandatory site per county must be either 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Wilkes Board of Elections opted to have weekday hours in the county commissioners’ meeting room on the first floor of the Wilkes County Office Building be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 17 to Nov. 2.

Counties have the option of providing as many one-stop, early voting satellite sites as they wish—or none. If they do provide satellite sites, they must open all 13 weekdays (Oct. 17 through Nov. 2), with weekday hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The law requires being open at least from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, with an option to extend hours until 5 p.m. Hours for the four Wilkes sites on Nov. 3 will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Having to be open all 13 weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. greatly increased the cost of satellite sites for counties that opt to provide them. In the last three general elections, Wilkes County’s three or four satellite sites were only open four or five days and had considerably shorter hours each day.

Wilkes Board of Elections Chairman Tim Joines asked Caudill about her level of comfort with the plan approved at the meeting.

“I feel pretty good about it. I believe we can handle it, particularly since it isn’t a presidential year,” she responded.

Board member Garland Hill asked Caudill if she believed enough backup workers had been secured for one-stop, early voting and Caudill answered affirmatively. Hill then made a motion to approve the plan and his motion was unanimously approved.

Caudill said the board considered the increased cost of satellite sites and past voter turnout in deciding how many satellite sites to provide. She said it had been hard for Wilkes Board of Election staff to find enough people to man satellite sites due to the additional days and longer hours.

Caudill said the county’s costs for one-stop, early voting costs this year would include a little over $6,000 per satellite site, compared to about $1,300 per satellite site last year due to the additional and longer days. She said the Wilkes Board of Elections should still have enough money in its budget to cover this.

She said 15-16 people have been signed up to work at satellite sites this year, which she said is enough for three to four people per site at any given time under the approved plan.

Fulltime Wilkes Board of Elections staff and regular poll workers would man the site in the county commissioners’ meeting room, with two to three workers there most of the time and more in busier periods, Caudill added.

The plan calls for poll workers secured for the satellite site in Millers Creek to work in two shifts, with one group working on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday and another group working on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

At the satellite site in Pleasant Hill, the plan calls for some people to work only half days and others to work full days.

Caudill said there may be “floaters” available to work on an as-needed basis at both sites.
Wilkes Board of Elections member Lynn Day asked Caudill if the same one-stop, early voting plan would be used for the presidential election in 2020.

Caudill said that depended on whether the legislature made more changes in state election laws. “It’s always subject to change,” she added.

Some critics of the new law requiring that all satellite sites be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. all 13 weekdays Oct. 17 to Nov. 2 if a county opted to provide satellite sites have said this was done to reduce voter turnout.
Legislators who supported the new law said the goal was ensuring uniformity to avoid confusion they said has occurred when satellite sites within a single county had differing hours. Satellite sites in Wilkes have all had the same hours in the past.

In addition to the one-stop, early voting dates in the plan approved Tuesday, key voter dates for this year’s election include:

Sept. 7, first day voters can be mailed an absentee ballot. These are available from the Wilkes Board of Elections;
Oct. 12, voter registration forms for voting on Nov. 6 (election day) due by 5 p.m. at Wilkes Board of Elections;
Oct. 30, last day to request an absentee ballot by mail;
Nov. 5, last day for a military/overseas absentee ballot request;
Nov. 6, Election Day;
Nov. 9, last day to turn in absentee ballots by mail (must be postmarked by Election Day);
Nov. 15, last day to receive military/overseas absentee ballots (mailed).

Caudill said new vote tabulators, which the county commissioners agreed to fund in the 2018-19 budget, won’t be purchased in time for voting this October and November.

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CoOPER on UNC-Tv's "FIRST IN FUTURE"

7/9/2018

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3rd Vice Chair of the Wilkes Democratic Party, Michael Cooper, went on UNC-TV's "First In Future" to speak on small town politics and how to keep young people engaged in the towns in which they grew up.

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REGISTERING, EARLY VOTING, AND WHY THE PRIMARY MATTERS

4/10/2018

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REGISTERING TO VOTE:
Friday, Apr. 13th is the deadline for all Voter Registration forms must be turned in to the Board of Elections by 5pm OR postmarked with that date to allow you to be able to vote in primary or change party affiliation if you wish to vote on the May 8th Election Day.

Voter registration applicants who have met the voter registration deadline should expect to receive their voter card within 1 to 2 weeks. Applicants should contact their county board of elections if they do not receive their voter card within two weeks.

WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU TO REGISTER:
First-time voters, who at the time of their initial voter registration did not provide their North Carolina driver license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, or who provided a number that could not be validated, are required to show identification when they vote.

This identification does not have to be a photo ID. The requirement for first-time voters to show identification is a requirement of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, a federal law not unique to North Carolina. Acceptable forms of HAVA ID include:

A current and valid photo identification; or
A copy of one of the following documents that show the name and address of the voter: a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document.
First-time voters who are required to show HAVA ID will have been notified of this requirement by their county board of elections

The requirement to show a photo ID for voting and other associated laws has been struck down by a Federal court. Photo ID is not required to vote if you've already registered and voted prior. If any election official asks for a Photo ID and you've voted previously call the state board of elections immediately at (866) 522-4723 while at the polls.

ONE-STOP: REGISTERING AND VOTING ALL AT THE SAME TIME
OR, if you miss that deadline you can then wait until "One-Stop" voting period when you can register and vote early in-person all at the same time at County Commissioners room on the bottom floor of the county office bldg in Wilkesboro. Those dates are shown here:

EARLY VOTING:
If you're already registered, you can vote early during the above one-stop voting times as well. It is called "One-Stop" because if does offer the option to register and vote all at the same time if necessary. This year, we have more Democrats on the Board of Elections, and a Democrat Chairman,...so we were able to have more Saturday dates for one-stop early voting AND extended hours in the final days closer to the election. This is hugely convenient to those of us who work.

ABSENTEE VOTING:
If you can't make it to the polls or early voting site, an absentee ballot that you mail in is an option as well. But ANYONE can request and get an absentee ballot for any reason. Absentee voting is available before every election in the form of mail out ballots. You must fill out the NC Absentee Ballot request form to have a ballot mailed to you. The request form can be found HERE.

The last day to request an absentee ballot for the May 8th election is Tuesday, May 1st. The deadline for the Boad of Election to receive your absentee ballot back (MUST be postmarked by election day) is Friday, May 11th at 5:00 pm.

WANT TO CHECK VOTER REGISTRATION:
Don't know if you're registered? Unsure if the correct address is on your voter registration? Confused as to your precinct? Need to know which NC House district you're in? All of that can be easily found at the NC State Board of Elections Voter Look Up Tool. It really is a convenient tool, and you can look up other folks too, since it's all public record. So you can check up on the status of your family and friends to make sure they're registered.

WHAT IS ON THE MAY 8th BALLOT?
It's the FINAL ELECTION for Wilkes Board of Election. Vote Brandon Whitaker as he is the only Democrat on the ballot. And you need to vote only for 1, even though you ma vote for two. But with so many Republicans against him, he doesn't have a chance if you share that second vote with any other candidate.

Also on the ballot is the primary for the Democrats vying for Virginia Foxx's seat in November, either DD Adams or Jenny Marshall. Both are strong candidates that know the way to Wilkes County and have made themselves available for forums, meetings, and visits.

All the sample ballots for Wilkes are posted here: https://wilkescounty.net/563/Sample-Ballots

Got a question that we didn't answer here? Just drop us an email: info@wilkesdemocrats.com and we will find that answer. Or, call the Wilkes Board of Elections at (336) 651-7339 Monday through Friday 8:30am - 5pm.

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NC - The Poster Child For Political Shenanigans

1/12/2018

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Every North Carolina district just happens to look like a monster.

The Raleigh News and Observer broke the news and stated that "a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s election districts for U.S. Congress on Tuesday as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders and gave lawmakers until January 29 to bring them new maps to correct the problem." Here we go again with appeals, court documents, time and money.

"The judges were unanimous that North Carolina lawmakers under Republican leadership violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause when they drew maps explicitly to favor their party."

Rep. David Lewis, a Harnett County Republican who has shepherded the state’s recent redistricting efforts, stated “I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to ten Republicans and three Democrats because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with eleven Republicans and two Democrats.”

Just before Christmas, the NC General Assembly was again required to pay $1.4 million dollars to the attorneys that filed the original law suit for their successful challenge of unfair racial gerrymandering actions taken by our Republican controlled General Assembly.

This action brings the cost to around $7 million dollars not counting the wasted time and efforts for this detrimental act of governance.

Can our elected Representatives not find more productive and better use of their time than trying to "stack the deck" so they can remain in control of North Carolina State government?

However, our General Assembly has brought recognition to North Carolina. When ranked for electoral fairness by the Electoral Integrity Project which evaluated districts in all 50 states, North Carolina is absolutely last! NC scored 7 out of a possible 100 points! Somehow, I am not proud of North Carolina being the "poster child" for unfair political shenanigans.

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Redeeming Ourselves

7/9/2017

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This article was written by Wilkes Democrats 3rd Vice Chair Michael Cooper, Jr. and was originally printed online at 'National Affairs'. The full article is found HERE.

If there are winners and losers in 21st-century America, I come from the losing side. Hit hard by the Great Recession and by deindustrialization, my hometown of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, has suffered one of the worst declines in the country since the new millennium.

In 2000, when I enrolled as a freshman at Wilkes Central High School, the median income in the county was $47,992 a year. In 2014, when I came home to Wilkes to practice law, the median income was $33,398. In a county with a population of 69,000, there were 4,451 fewer jobs in manufacturing, 46 fewer retail stores, and a net loss of over $60 million in payroll. The face of the losing side of globalization, Wilkes was featured during the 2016 election on PBS NewsHour, Morning Joe, and the cover of the New York Times as a home to Americans "living among the ruins of a lapsed golden age."

But behind all the statistics and concerned news reports were real people, whose savings and way of life had been wiped out. Working-class Americans have been left behind by the brain drain, the Big Sort, the Age of Acceleration, and the Metropolitan Revolution. Worse, disconnected from each other, atomized by the internet, and ignored by the political establishment, they are now dying younger from alcoholism and addiction. The system has failed them.

So white working-class Americans in the Rust Belt and rural America sought revenge against incumbent politicians, the media, government bureaucrats, dynasties, and the ascendant coalition of minorities, single women, and college-educated millennials stealing their place in society. Their economic anxiety and cultural despair caused racial resentment and the return of illiberalism, and Donald Trump was their revenge. He won the presidency by encouraging their anger and channeling their grief into tribalism, scapegoating immigrants and refugees as the cause of complex problems beyond their control: the drug epidemic, lack of mobility, and a culture in decay.

But protectionism, xenophobia, and isolationism will not save the working class from robots and smart phones and self-driving cars. Economies built on manufacturing were destined to suffer when America transitioned to the service sector and high tech, and there were always going to be growing pains. But policymakers and elected officials underestimated the costs, and so did the Americans who experienced them.

It is well past time to address this failure, and it's going to take more than electing someone who channels people's frustrations. Progress will require new thinking and an all-hands-on-deck approach. Working-class Americans need honesty and realistic, concrete plans for the future.

I have had more luck than most, and, while I love my hometown, I don't pretend to know and understand everything that motivates my neighbors. But I do know that, in Wilkes County, in the hollows of West Virginia, in the steel towns, the bonds of community came apart, and we were powerless against the forces of globalization. The time has come to reconnect those bonds, to restore economic and political power to those who feel helpless, and to find paths forward for those who deserve new victories. We can make all of America great again if we start from the bottom up.

DECLINE AND FALL
In the 1980s and '90s, when I was growing up, Wilkes County was the very image of rural America, full of family farms on rolling countryside. Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, my home of North Wilkesboro began as a railroad town in the 1890s, and by mid-century was full of factories that built a thriving middle class. It was home to the nation's largest mirror factory, and the American Furniture Company employed thousands. North Wilkesboro Hardware, founded by L. S. Lowe in 1921, ultimately became a Fortune 500 company. Apart from Lowe's, the town's claim to fame is being one of the birthplaces of NASCAR.

My family lived in a quiet suburban neighborhood. My mom taught at an elementary school, and my dad worked in the corporate headquarters of Lowe's. He read The Art of the Deal, sold Amway on the side, and dreamed of being rich. My parents were a success story. The first in their families to go to college, they were descended from farmers who settled in the mountains of North Carolina two centuries earlier. They were able to use their savings to open a small used bookstore on Main Street in North Wilkesboro, where flower stores and sandwich shops lined the streets. I grew up in the store reading Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and P. J. O'Rourke, and books about the Civil War, daydreaming of life outside of a town that seemed overly peaceful. I graduated high school in the spring of 2004, when the Iraq War was in its infancy. If there were signs of wage stagnation and declining mobility, we didn't notice, as we turned our attention to distant threats of terror.

The collapse happened so slowly that no one noticed the crisis coming. [MORE]

Read the full article at the National Affairs site:
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/redeeming-ourselves

National Affairs is a quarterly journal of essays about domestic policy, political economy, society, culture, and political thought. It aims to help Americans think a little more clearly about our public life, and rise a little more ably to the challenge of self-government.

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Furio: Zach's Democracy Lesson in Wilkes

3/28/2017

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Excitement pervaded Wednesday night's screening of "Democracy for Sale," the documentary starring Wilkes native Zach Galifianakis which aired at the Stone Center for Performing Arts in North Wilkesboro. The excitement was from the fact that Zach himself was going to talk about the film afterwards.

The Working Films organizers of the event were very nervous. This was the first panel, of the 75 events they'd put on, that Zach was going to participate in. It was also the largest viewing they'd had to date. 400+ people. They were nervous that he needed an easy way to get in and out of the venue without being mobbed like a Hollywood star. They were also a little nervous that he might not show up at all.

We reassured them. Yes, he would get in and out easily. No one would bother him. Yes, he would show.

Zach didn't disappoint.

I'd seen the Epix series "America Divided" several months ago. It was edited unusually, with a couple of unrelated stories about immigration and unemployment with other stars interweaved throughout. You were constantly being yanked back and forth into the story. One moment, you'd be watchin America Ferrera focusing on immigration issues, the next, Zach would be talking about coal ash in NC. It was a little disorienting. But on Wednesday, they showed just Zach's story, in its entirety as "Democracy for Sale" and it was a more easily understood piece that way.

First, it showed Zach starting with HB2, the "bathroom bill,"...raising NC's visibility on the national stage. And he starts an investigation of why NC, this state that he loves so much that he still maintains a home there, is so focused on bathrooms and where people go to the bathroom?

It's not long before he senses that it's a diversion. And Ari Berman, journalist for The Nation, directs his attention to the NC issues that weren't being addressed. Corporate greed, power and coverups. Zach speaks to Tracey Edwards, a woman in Stokes County who grew up around coal plants of Duke Energy. Everyone in her community is sick with various - and unusual - ailments. She finally figured out that it was due to the coal ash in their water supply. She never wanted to become an activist, she had to for her family.

The ties between then governor Pat McCrory and Duke Energy were strong. He worked for them for 24 years, they donated $30million to a PAC that gets republican governors elected. When they spilled their coal ash into the Dan River, they got a fine that amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Basically equal to if a person making $60,000 a year got a fine of 30-cents. Nothing.

Zach goes and talks to UNC professor Gene Nichol, who is a researcher on poverty in NC and has written several books and studies on the topic. He enlightens Zach on the world of big money in politics. Citizens United, the law that allows corporations to give money as individuals and removes strict caps, has run amok. Long time political animals like Art Pope, who is a billionaire with his own conservative agenda, can give to candidates that he can control.

Through all this, Zach is able to use his humor, and Wilkes County self-deprecation to show the absurdity of it all. Why should someone's voice be heard over someone else's simply because they have money and the other doesn't? The right to free speech should apply to all, shouldn't it?

Zach speaks with Margaret Dickson, NC representative in Fayetteville. She spoke about the gerrymandered maps of NC, and how private contractors for the GOP went to the maps with surgical precision and cut around neighborhoods and houses to "pack" the African American and liberal households into as few districts as possible. Sure, they'd lose a few seats, but they could win a majority of the seats easily with their majority voters. This was not just sour grapes on her behalf. She showed that they went after her and were dead set that she was not going to win another seat in office ever again.

Appalachia is deeply conservative. The bible belt is strong in the hills and valleys. But more and more are finding the Republican agenda is leaving their needs behind in a blind grab for more money and power,...two things that area are without. Zach speaks with Tracy Deyton, a long-time NC Republican whose family is changing their mind about their party after she has an autistic son. Their healthcare needs were being broken by policies made by the very party they were raised to believe in. They changed their thinking, and she shares her story to allow others to see the folly of their ways before it's too late.

Finally, Zach gets an audience with Carter Wrenn, the campaign manager who not only defeated his uncle, Nick Galifianakis, with Jesse Helms, but continued to have a lock on the office until Helms' retirement. He validates Zach's suspicions about Art Pope. He is a billionaire, who doesn't have an elected office, but can win elections by the power of his money. As his friend, Ari Berman, tells Zach later, "Why should his voice matter more than yours?"

"It's not a Republican/Democrat issue. It's a human issue," Zach Galifianakis at his film's screening this week, echoing Neil Gorsuch's "Long before we are Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans," line from his Congressional hearing.

I beg to differ on that. It IS a Democrat issue. The Democrat party collapsed in 2010. In part due to Gerrymandering. In part due to apathy. In part due to the explosion of "unaffiliated" voters. Until you have people willing to stand up proudly that they are Democrats in towns like ours,...and challenge the threats to their jobs, to their voices,...they will continue to win.

In the end, there is hope that NC can come back from this gerrymandered, pro-corporation, polluter-friendly political climate. But it is going to take some time, and a lot of effort from people like Dr. Reverend Barber, and NAACP chapters all across our state (and yes, Wilkes does have one). And it's going to take you and me talking to people and sharing your story and explaining over and over and over again the facts and the ways the GOP big money agenda is hurting real families and small towns like ours.

The questions at the end of the panel mostly seemed to revolve around HOW do you talk to people that don't want to hear you? And there's no easy solution to that. But Zach did offer that humor helps,...and that finding those areas where you DO intersect in interests helps....and that not giving up and losing hope. That we need to start talking to one another because we have to ask ourselves what happen when we don't. "When we're too polite, then it's too late," said Zach.

Perhaps Professor Nichol said it best, "We must organize, energize and outnumber them." We can't depend on the courts to do it all for us. That will take too long. And if we don't convince enough long-time Republicans to vote more Democrats in office, we won't have the votes. So those dialogues MUST happen.

The Wilkes NAACP needs members of all colors to succeed in Wilkes County. The Indivisible Group of Wilkes is making waves. But the Wilkes County Democrats need you, too. Our old-time establishment is not participating like they used to, and the younger generation is struggling to survive, but we need both of them to energize our local party, to find qualified candidates for local and state offices that will fight for us, to do the things that will make our communities a better place.

If you came out to Wednesday night's event, we hope you'll come out to the next Wilkes Democrats' event. And if you missed the event, and want to watch "America Divided" which features Zach Galifianakis' film interspersed through Episode 4 and 5, you can watch if for free on EPIX or HULU (with existing subscription).

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December Joy

Many Republicans have come to believe they will lose fair elections with high voter turnout

Sample Ballots for Each Wilkes PRECINCT: Midterms 2018 edition

WILKES PRECINCTS: Boomer, brushy Mountain, cricket, fairplains, millers creek, moravian falls, mulberry, new castle, north wilkesboro, rock creek 1, somers, traphill 2 and wilkesboro 1, wilkesboro 2, and wilkesboro 3.

Wilkes Precincts: Antioch, Edwards 1, Edwards 2, Ferguson, Jobs Cabin, Mount Pleasant, Mulberry 1, Reddies River, Rock Creek 2, Traphill1, Union & Walnut Grove

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NC - The Poster Child For Political Shenanigans

Redeeming Ourselves

Furio: Zach's Democracy Lesson in Wilkes

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