This isn’t the beginning of some more elaborate joke. Outgoing County Commission Chairman Jim Sides received 15 votes for the Rowan-Salisbury School Board’s Seat Six.

The race only had one official candidate, Jean Kennedy, who breezed to re-election as expected. She received 97.88 percent of the vote. The remaining percentage is composed of miscellaneous write-ins, including votes for Sides and 72 write-ins for someone named Donald Duke.

Write-in votes are only publicly released if the named person receives five or more votes. Names like Santa Claus, Oscar the Grouch and anything else that is likely not legitimate aren’t seriously considered.

The fact that 72 people voted for Duke is curious, as most would think it’s a misspelling of Disney character Donald Duck, but elections director Nancy Evans was certain it wasn’t.

The most recognizable person with the name is a former governor of an African state in Nigeria. Perhaps it’s just a misspelling, or it could legitimately be a vote for a real person. But the more interesting result is the votes for Sides.

A total of 15 votes isn’t significant except for the fact that Sides has been criticized so harshly and even linked, like President Barack Obama, to several candidates running for the office. In Obama’s case it was mostly for statewide and national offices. In Sides’ case,  Rowan Alliance tried to tie three Republican school board candidates to the conservative commissioner. Two of them were elected.

The write-in votes for Sides weren’t concentrated in any precinct, as he received one or two in several throughout the county.

The votes could either be a sign that 15 Rowan County voters believe Sides is a viable candidate for the school board or that people simply wanted to write down another name besides Kennedy.

Another race that included a few interesting write-in candidates was for the Rowan Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor. The position allows voters to pick two candidates. The two that officially ran were Harry Corriher and Lee Menius.

Unlike the school board race, all of the write in candidates are real people. Rockwell resident Carl Dangerfield, who ran for county commission as a Republican in 2012, received 68 votes. Darrell Blackwelder, the county extension director, received 10 votes. Jason Chester, a teacher at West Rowan High School, received six write-in votes, all in precinct 29, Steele, that votes at the high school.

The write-in votes raise a real question. Could anyone ever run a write-in campaign and successfully be elected to office? It’s unlikely. But if there’s more than one seat open in a particular race, perhaps it’s possible.

 

Alma Adams becomes 100th woman to serve in Congress

Just eight days after winning a seat representing North Carolina’s 12th District in Congress, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., is already representing residents in part of Rowan County.

Adams, a Democrat whose district stretches from Greensboro to Charlotte, was sworn in this week, becoming the 100th woman to serve in Congress. Adams will serve the remainder of 2014 and start a new term in 2015.

She is filling the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Mel Watt’s term and succeeding him. Watt left Congress to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Watt stepped down in January, meaning that the seat sat empty for 10 moths before being filled.

 

House approves Keystone XL Pipeline

For the ninth time, the U.S. House on Friday voted in favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline by a 252-161 margin.

The vote won’t immediately affect Rowan County or North Carolina, but could certainly have an indirect affect in other ways, such as lower gas prices. Another frequent reason that those in favor cite for the pipeline’s creation is job growth, which U.S. Rep. Richard Husdon mentioned in a statement shortly after he voted in favor of the measure.

“Today’s vote to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is part of my commitment to advance solutions that grow our economy, spur job-creation and foster energy security,” Hudson said in the statement. “I will continue to focus on an all of the above energy strategy that enables us to take advantage of our resources in a responsible way, reduces our dependence on foreign energy, and lowers costs for everyone.”

In her statement,Republican U.S. Rep Virginia Foxx, who represents the northern portion of Rowan County and voted for the pipeline, also stressed the importance to the economy and extensive research on the project.

“Keystone XL is the most studied pipeline in our nation’s history,” she said. “Thousands of pages prove its worth to our economy and national interest and further document its safety.”

Adams voted against the measure.

If the Keystone XL Pipeline is successful in passing the U.S. Senate and is signed by Obama, it would carry oil from Alberta, Canada; through the Great Plains; and down to Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

 

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246