Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

July 3, 2008 issue

Board of Elections Stands by
August 19 Referendum Date


Story by Kathleen McFadden

When the Watauga County Board of Elections met for canvass on Tuesday morning to certify the results of the Democratic Party runoff for state labor commissioner, the crowd was much larger than usual.

Several people attended canvass to ask the Board of Elections to change the date of Boone’s mixed-beverage referendum from August to September.

Because the board members were not clear on their statutory authority to reschedule the referendum—advertising for the election has already begun—they agreed to consult with Board of Elections Director Jane Hodges about the possibility of scheduling a special meeting to discuss the issue. Later than afternoon, however, the board issued the following statement:
“Upon consultation with Director Hodges, the Watauga County Board of Elections will not be scheduling a special meeting regarding the date of the August 19, 2008 mixed drink election for the Town of Boone. The next scheduled meeting of the Board of Elections will be held on July 29, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. for consideration of absentee ballots for the August 19, 2008 election.”

So August 19 it is.

At their meeting on June 20, the members of the Board of Elections set August 19 as the date for the referendum. State law provides a specific window for such elections. They must occur no less than 60 days and no more than 120 after the Board of Elections receives the resolution requesting the referendum. In addition, referendum votes cannot occur within 30 days of a general election and cannot be included on a general election ballot.

After Board of Elections Director Jane Hodges asked the board to consider the staff and their workload in the months preceding the general election, the board voted to hold the referendum in August. That date, the board members agreed, would give the Board of Elections the opportunity to close out the referendum election and then turn their full attention to the general election.
After the board certified the labor commissioner runoff results at canvass on Tuesday and voted to increase the number of early voting sites in the county from two to five for the general election, Chair Stella Anderson invited those present to speak.

Stephen Sinanian, chair of the ABC Task Force, asked the board to change the referendum date to September 16 to avoid disenfranchising voters. “I believe the August date would be hurtful to the Democratic process,” he said, pointing out that by September, summer travel will be over. “Many people want to vote unencumbered,” he added. Sinanian said he believed that “simple miscommunication” was the reason the board selected an August referendum date instead of a date in September, a problem, he said, that “can be easily resolved with little fuss.”

Stephen Phillips, a member of the Boone Town Council but speaking as a resident of Boone, also attributed the August date to “more of a communication problem than anything else.” Phillips pointed out that the Boone Town Council passed the resolution requesting the referendum on Thursday, June 19, and the next day the Board of Elections set the date for the referendum. “I think there wasn’t enough time to give public notice,” Phillips said, “and it wasn’t a specific agenda item. I think this could have been a procedural error.” Phillips said he was concerned about the perception that could arise from the August date—the perception that the town does not want ASU students to vote. “I think we owe our students more respect than that,” he said.

James Milner, Boone resident and owner of Milner Research, said, “This date is two days prior to when the [ASU] students get back into session.” Milner pointed out that Appalachian students bring “$78 million into the local economy,” and added, “It’s only fair that we let them be a part of this process.”

ASU Student Body President David Mofford acknowledged that his generation is sometimes called apathetic but said that scheduling the referendum in August “is not sending a good message.” Mofford continued, “If we don’t let students vote this time, they may remember it all their lives” and, he said, decide not to vote in future elections.

Liz Aycock, member of the Boone Town Council speaking as a resident of Boone, also asked the board to reconsider the date. Not doing so, she said, could disenfranchise ASU faculty and staff, as well as students.

Local businessman Jeff Templeton asked the board not to change the August referendum date. “There is no perfect date,” Templeton said. “If you move the date to later in the fall, elderly people who winter in Arizona and Florida may be gone.” Templeton pointed out that the public schools will be in session and that most families will be back in Boone from summer travel. “Local bar owners and members of the Boone Town Council are manipulating the date to get the outcome they want, and I don’t call that democracy,” Templeton said.
At the conclusion of the public comment, Anderson said that the board had “given a great deal of consideration to various factors” when determining the date for the referendum, and their “primary responsibility has to be in determining the resources available for an election.” The decision about the referendum date, Anderson said, “was based on work we know has to occur for the general election.”

Anderson pointed out that any Boone resident who is eligible to vote has ample opportunity to vote on the referendum via absentee ballot, one-stop (early) voting for two weeks prior to August 19, and on election day.

“In the end, we have to make the best decision with the resources and staff the Board of Elections has to carry out an election,” Anderson said.