If there was any kind of surprise on Tuesday during the general election, it’s that Scotland County voters turned out in strong fashion.
Just under 47 percent of registered voters cast a ballot during the election cycle, including the two-week early voting period, and that’s a huge boost from the usual turnout that has hovered around the 30-percent mark in the recent past for non-presidential elections.
But we still wish that number had been higher. Much higher.
We are never fully convinced the will of the people has been done when voter turnout is below the 50-percent mark. It’s tough to sell a victory when a majority of registered voters didn’t bother to cast a vote — especially when the results of a contested race are close.
A couple of local races that didn’t have that problem — because the margin of victory was so large — include the race for N.C. House District 48 and the Scotland County referendum for a quarter-cent sales tax increase.
About two-thirds of the voters rejected the sales tax increase that would have sparked the building of a county multi-generational center. While not a surprising result, it’s still a disappointment — because it shows that a majority of voters just don’t understand the issues at work here. It’s a shame consumers here will continue to pay 7 percent sales tax in many cases, since it gets rounded up from the 6.75 percent, and that extra quarter-cent won’t go toward anything positive.
Scotland County deserved to get that win. Now it will suffer the consequences of the status quo.
On a brighter note, one of the county’s favorite sons, Garland Pierce, easily won re-election to the N.C. House over challenger Russell Walker. This one wasn’t a surprise or close.
Pierce remains a popular figure in Scotland County and in Raleigh, where the work he does for his constituents is both admirable and respected. Pierce, who is constantly visible throughout the area whether it’s election season or not, is precisely the kind of politician this county, state and nation needs moving forward.
We applaud his huge victory.
In other county races, we must make mention that Laurinburg Mayor Matthew Block, who verbally pulled out of the race for a seat on the Board of Commissioners last month, still managed to receive more than 3,700 votes — presumably from supporters who basically wasted their vote, as well as some who may have wanted to see what the divisive candidate would do should he garner enough votes to take a seat.
Thankfully, he wasn’t given that chance to renege on his sudden claim to not want the seat.
In a closer race than may have been expected, incumbent Sheriff Ralph Kersey beat challenger John Martin by 368 votes to win re-election. We have been privy to rumors that this will be Kersey’s last term and, if that is true, we would expect Martin could be something of s shoe-in for the seat next time around — should he decide to run.
Until then, we applaud the re-election of Kersey.
And finally, we will give our kudos to those who earned seats on the Scotland County Board of Education — Summer Woodside, B.J. Gibson, Herman Tyson and Raymond Hyatt.
We also applaud local and statewide voters for approving the Voter ID amendment. It just makes good sense.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“A vote is like a rifle … its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” (Theodore Roosevelt)