It's an election year and we know everyone is vying for your vote right now. The presidential election is the hot topic but your city, county, and state elections are equally important for matters close to home. Local elections often result not only in faster changes to your every day life, but they can also have the biggest impact on you.
Take, for example, the North Carolina state budgets passed in the past decade. In 2011, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a budget that required that state regulations could not make water, air, or other environmental rules stricter than those passed by the federal government. Since then, the N.C. General Assembly, through budget writing and other committees, has passed policies relaxing regulations on development of previously federally protected wetlands, prohibiting the city and county governments from taxing, prohibiting, or otherwise regulating retail packaging (including Styrofoam), and delaying the implementation of restrictions regarding "forever chemicals" in drinking water. Local governments in Durham, Asheville, Wilmington, and more have been fighting these restrictions and are trying to bring awareness to these issues with the help from grass-roots organizations.
This is all to say, we encourage you to get out to the polls for all levels of voting this year, primaries to general elections, city to presidential. And when you do, please take your time researching who you will be voting for, their history, their affiliations, and their vision for your community. Your vote helps decide who will represent you in the matters most important to you.
Sources:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article288496757.html
https://www.sierraclub.org/north-carolina/blog/2023/09/news-state-budget-minefield-nc-environment
https://www.ashevillenc.gov/projects/single-use-plastic-reduction/
Photo by Element5 Digital: https://www.pexels.com/photo/i-voted-sticker-lot-1550340/
