I got up this morning and headed for the polls. Since I live out in the boonies, I didn’t expect much of a line.

There wasn’t one, but it was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. Out of about seven “booths” I got the last vacant one.

Most people who know me know which man I’d like to see win, so I won’t bring that up here. If he doesn’t, I hope the other guy does win within the next 24 hours. The last thing we need is a repeat of Florida circa 2000, with an Ohio thrown in for good measure.

Usually the national races are a bit of a snore, with local races being more exciting. We have only one real race of that sort in this election. Chatham County, where I live, is in the midst of a growth boom, and the nearby metropolis of Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill is threatening to sprawl into our beautiful rural homeland.

The county commissioners, who are supposed to guard against such things, have in recent times been elected by the pro-development camp – usually realtors and developers who don’t live here.

Well, this year some citizens mobilized and managed to get two people nominated as the Democratic candidates for the open seats. One, Patrick Barnes, is basically elected as there is no Republican challenger.

The other, Mike Cross (no relation to the singer), is contested by a guy named Andy Wilkie. Now I am the last person who can tease someone about their name, but Wilkie? Too close to “winkie” for me. Despite his name, the fact that he is in the pocket of the people who would like nothing better than to bulldoze and pave God’s Own Earth has me hoping that the trend of the Democratic nominee winning the election continues.

In another “development” issue ballot item is a referendum to issue bonds to create a northern Chatham water district. One of the things keeping development in check is that Chatham, unlike the eastern borders of Raleigh, is pretty hit and miss with respect to water. We have a great well, and I like the taste of the water that comes out of my tap, so I have a hard time seeing how an expensive water project, that even after connection would cost me $35-$50 a month, benefits me. This on top of the fact that Chatham has a horrible record on water quality and supply.

There are plans to make two other districts in Chatham, and those were approved by the voters during the primary elections. Our district was voted down, but there were a number of people who were “disenfranchised” due to some mistakes made by the Board of Elections. So instead of causing a Florida-esque stink, they decided on a “do over”.

My friend Lyle was for water, so I before I automatically voted “No” again I did some research. The building I rent my office in is also home to Hal House, who is a water expert. He is against water for a number of reasons. The water supply, Jordan Lake, is considered polluted by government standards, and there have been three outbreaks of coliform bacteria in the last six months in the Pittsboro water supply (so they don’t do a very good job). But his biggest point was that there are much better ways of getting water to people who need it, like community wells, rather than the vast network of pipes proposed. Community wells would get the water to those who need it, but wouldn’t serve the needs of developers.

I voted “No” again.

Another thing I am against are “Constitutional Amendments”. In my mind, most constitutional amendments are the political equivalent of “Play my way or I’ll take my ball and go home”.

We had three to chose from. Amendment 1 made it possible for city and county governments to issue bonds without a referendum. Bad idea. The last thing I want is to hand the current Chatham County board a blank check.

The second one involved the redistribution of legal fines and penalties. From what I can tell, they must go to education, but this amendment would create a fund where all these monies would be collected and then distributed based on student population. I was never able to find out how it’s done now, but my guess is that penalties collected locally stay local, so this seemed to be a way to move money from smaller areas to larger ones.

But since I am automatically against amending any constitution, it was up to the proponents to convince me, and they failed.

The last one involved terms of judges. Judges must run for their seat every two years. So some smart judge decided that the first term should be the normal two years, but that the next term would be four years, basically a “skipsies” for every other election.

For some reason I just didn’t feel this was right. Although I must say the thought of having to endure less political advertising was appealing. The problem is that I rarely see commercials or ads for judges, so they aren’t nearly as annoying as the bigger races, and that might have swayed my vote.

Let’s just hope it’s over now for the next two years.