When I turned 18, I registered to vote as a Democrat, and I haven’t wavered since. So why did I feel uneasy when I went to vote last week and saw a string of Democrats on the ballot running unopposed? Orange County, with the vast majority of its population residing in the southern part of […]
All posts in category Elections
Where are the Republicans?
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 29, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/29/where-are-the-republicans/
Vote like it’s finals
After my first child was born, I considered making a career change that would involve going back to college for several classes. I lived in New York City at the time, and my babysitter was a student at a different college than the one I attended. All of us relied on public transit to get […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 22, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/22/vote-like-its-finals/
What Does Democracy Look Like?
Talk about a baptism by fire: His first day on the job, town manager Maurice Jones had to deal with a “spontaneous” rally by activists that ended with the toppling of Silent Sam, making national news. The statue’s demise happened close to the one-year anniversary of the deadly protest in Charlottesville, where Jones had been […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 27, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/08/27/what-does-democracy-look-like/
One State Away
I took four flights last month, and from my vantage point of Zone 4 in the gate area, I watched all the high-mileage passengers board first. They were the dealmakers flown by their companies to move business forward and generate revenue. On all four flights, those in the privileged first-to-board line were almost exclusively white […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 13, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/08/13/one-state-away/
Indy loses its independence
Was a time when Chapel Hill and Orange County had a good selection of news providers to advise voters in the candidate selection process. With the elimination of The Chapel Hill News and Chapel Hill Herald and the weakening of The Daily Tar Heel, the town has lost great resources. Now it appears that The […]
Posted by Don Evans on May 14, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/05/14/indy-loses-its-independence/
The View From Here
After I was elected in 2015, I asked to occupy the seat on the dais once held by former Council Member Matt Czajkowski. I had long admired his intellect and insight. He was able to perceive unintended consequences in council decisions that eluded his colleagues on the dais. But his trenchant observations often brought out […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 11, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/12/11/the-view-from-here/
A win for Chapel Hill
Who won last Tuesday’s municipal elections? The residents of Chapel Hill did. Chapel Hill voters elected four newcomers to the four Town Council seats. (Mayor Pam Hemminger, whose only opponent was a write-in candidate, won re-election.) The council members-elect are younger than the incumbents they are succeeding, and for the most part, seem less entrenched […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 13, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/11/13/a-win-for-chapel-hill/
Two ways to message
The N.C. General Assembly declined to pass HB-746 during its short session, which left one gun advocate livid. The proposed bill would have allowed concealed handguns to be carried without a permit. The bill came to the floor for consideration at the start of a week that would erupt in eight mass shootings in the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 28, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/08/28/two-ways-to-message/
We the people
After the U.S. Department of the Interior retweeted a pair of aerial photos comparing the size of the crowd at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009 with the much sparser attendance at Donald Trump’s ceremony, Trump ordered the department’s Twitter accounts to be shut down. Soon after, all pages on Whitehouse.gov that made reference to civil […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 23, 2017
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/23/we-the-people/
Living Stronger Together
The racial equity workshop I signed up for couldn’t have come at a better time — two days after the American people elected a president who campaigned to deport a large chunk of the workforce because of their ethnicity and to close our borders to Muslims and non-white refugees. For the most part, the workshop […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 28, 2016
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/11/28/living-stronger-together/