Eighteen days. Four-hundred and thirty-two hours. Twenty-six thousand, three hundred and fifty-two minutes.
If you want all that in seconds, it’s math you’ll have to do yourself — but no matter how you slice it, there is very little time left before we will all know who comes out winners in the Nov. 8 general election.
And really, by now, how many of you haven’t already made up your mind exactly how you will cast your ballot? We figure that number is very small — especially with the state and national races.
But our main concern today isn’t with Trump or Clinton, Burr or Ross, or even McCrory or Cooper. While those races are important, too, what concerns us now is more grassroots in nature — because there are several very important Bladen County races that will go a long way toward shaping the county we live, work and play in for the foreseeable future.
The Candidates Forum at Bladen Community College on Tuesday, sponsored by the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, gave some interested voters a good glimpse into the direction many of the local candidates want to take the county if they are elected. Aside from one candidate who was sidelined with a last-minute health issue, those candidates who chose not to attend the Forum should speak volumes to voters.
Still, many voters who plan to cast a ballot probably have their minds made up — based on personal relationships with candidates and/or a shared vision or agenda.
It’s agendas that we think really need to be looked at before local voters mark their ballot.
While it’s important to put qualified individuals in each of the available seats across the county, we think there can be no more important positions on the ballot in November than those to be filled on the Bladen County Board of Commissioners.
As we have witnessed over the past few years, there is an obvious split among the nine representatives of that board, and it has often manifested itself into a sad display of juvenile games — making a mockery of what should be a collection of individuals who care about the county as a whole, not only a portion, who can make intelligent decisions about this county’s future.
There are a handful of seats up for grabs on the county board Nov. 8, and those who are elected will be instrumental in whether the future board meetings are fruitful or inefficacious.
It’s doesn’t take a genius to know which candidates have a divisive agenda, have sold out simply to buy a seat on the board or are truly interested in serving all of the residents of Bladen County. We sincerely hope voters will make wise choices and seat candidates who will give Bladen the best possible chance to grow and prosper successfully — from Bladenboro to White Lake, from White Oak to Riegelwood, and everywhere in between.
That, of course, will be up to you on Nov. 8. Please don’t leave your vote unaccounted for.
If there is a guide we could give you before marking your ballot, it would be this: Vote for future success, not only for today’s agenda.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“My vote is my voice … and the voice of all who struggled so that I may have my voice.” (Lyida C. Obasi)