Tagged: Election 2012

Early voting is now underway in North Carolina. And this year, registration data show more voters are choosing not to affiliate with any political party. One quarter of the state’s electorate is now “unaffiliated”---a rise of 21 percent since 2008. In fact, in Mecklenburg County, unaffiliated voters have overtaken Republicans. But NOT SO FAST says WFAE’s political analyst Michael Bitzer. He’s been analyzing the data, and he tells Duncan McFadyen just because people are distancing themselves from parties, it doesn’t mean they’ve changed their partisan leanings.

Early voting for the November election has begun in North Carolina.

The airwaves - and your mailbox - may be full of campaign messages for U.S. president or North Carolina governor, but further down the ballot you'll be expected to choose judges next month, too. 

Trouble is, you're not likely to find much if you search for information about those candidates online. They often don't have much money to spend campaigning, so even a Facebook page for the candidate can be hard to find.

"It's not easy!" admits Nancy Roberson, executive director of the Mecklenburg County Bar. "We had the same dilemma."

Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton campaigned in Charlotte Friday to pitch his education plan for the state.  If elected governor, he says he'd push to restore education funding lawmakers cut in recent years.  That includes pre-kindergarten programs that prepare needy children for school.  It also includes raising teacher salaries over four years to the national average of $56,000.