RE: Stokes County Election Results

Steve opines: On to the Commissioner's race. The political and demographic lesson we can carry away from this is that Joe and Jane Sixpack are still sound asleep. Stokes County's turnout was above the state average, which was about 10%, but still nothing to crow about. Mustering 2500 school groupies to vote for a slate that will fully fund the school system's budget next year was no great feat. The important demographic to remember is that 85% of the population of Stokes County leaves there every day to go to work. If the turnout was 15%, which I suspect it will be not far from that, you have your answer.

I heard somebody say yesterday, "We have one big school board now." Ha! That person is right: We have a 10 seat school board now. ... According to a source, partisan Democrats switched their registrations to Independent so they could vote in the Stokes GOP primary yesterday. Since the Stokes GOP establishment acts like liberal Democrats, this isn't surprising. ... To be honest, I don't see a difference politically between the GOP commissioner candidates and the Democrat candidates this fall. ... Is Ernest Lankford one of the longest serving elected officials in Stokes history??? ... After the election of Barry Lawson in '00, nothing surprises me anymore. :-)