RE: Stokes board wants voters to choose election plan

Hey Steve: Since you are a former Stokes County Commissioner, what are your thoughts on this issue???

First, I have to say I don't like voter referendums. The Commissioners should make a decision. Either put the County in wards or don't. This sham of participatory democracy is a lie.

Second, I have to wonder why King is making so much noise about this (other than the fact that King always makes noise). Historically speaking, King has never had as much representation on the board as this would give them. At most, there has been one Commissioner from King. From 1996 to 2000, there were none. Demographically, that's probably about right. King's population is somewhere around 8,000, which is around 20% of the population of the County. I think maybe the double-digit IQ types in the King elite are worried they're being cheated somehow. They don't possess the mental acuity to actually know how they are being cheated, so they probably suspect it all the time just to be on the safe side.

Finally, in a County with the geography of Stokes and its attendant strange demographics, a ward system is probably the only way to keep the fortunes of the County government from falling victim to the winds of migration. As I have said repeatedly, a fair percentage of the people who have migrated to Stokes County (mostly in King) over the last ten to fifteen years couldn't care less about the County or its government. I'd bet real money a substantial portion of them couldn't even tell you what County they live in. Unfortunately, that makes them easy pickings for whichever political provocateur cares to stir them up over some petty issue. Given standard voter turnouts, a successful marketing strategy could easily fill the board with three members from within the city limits of King. Stokes County would not be the first place something like that has happened.