In the 2024 election, there was a remarkably close race for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat. Only about 700 votes separated the candidates in this major statewide race.
During the recount, the candidate with the fewest votes challenged the registration of about 65,000 voters. He contended that these registrations did not have the complete registration information required by a recent North Carolina registration law.
I will not go into the particulars of how this controversy was resolved. Needless to say, it was a surprisingly long court battle.
But it left many voters wondering whether their registration was among those challenged by the candidate in the state Supreme Court election. The problem with those registrations was that they either lacked the voter’s driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
When I went to vote in the municipal election on Friday, I asked a board of elections staff member whether a voter might be flagged if they were one of the people with that incomplete information. He told me that if the person who lacked that information came to vote, they would be asked to provide it. They would cast a provisional ballot, and their registration would be updated so they would have no problem in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
So, voting in this municipal election has an added benefit. If you are one of those unknowing 65,000 North Carolina voters with incomplete information, now is the time to update your information by voting in this election. Also, you can contact the board of elections to confirm that your registration is complete and up to date. I hope everyone will do this before the midterm elections, when large turnouts and long lines are possible.
We are coming to the end of this beautiful fall season and will face several months of harsh winter temperatures. Our town crews will be preparing by stockpiling salt for the roads in case we have major snowstorms. They will begin rigging their truck up for snowplow equipment in the coming weeks.
Last year, we were fortunate not to have major storms, but we can never predict what lies ahead, like the big December freeze a few years ago. Hopefully, our new third electrical circuit, which we have been installing this fall, will help address any heavy electrical demand in the winter months.
I have been tracking several winter predictions. Most weather services predict a warm, dry winter with little snow for North Carolina. That sounds good to me, but with Highlands sitting at 4118 feet above sea level, we could be the outlier or the exception.
On the other hand, the Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts a winter with surprisingly larger snowfalls in November, December, and into early January. My grandfather, who was a farmer, always relied on the almanac, and its prediction success rate has been rather reliable.
Our town electric crews will begin installing the new Christmas decorations that the chamber bought for the town around the beginning of November. Our recreation staff will start installing the ice-skating rink at the park so it will be ready for operation during the food festival weekend. Last year, it was very warm in November, and they had a challenge in making and keeping ice; fortunately, conditions improved after November.
Happy Halloween. See you at the trick-or-treat event downtown tomorrow evening.
