I am responding to an article by Natalie Anderson in  the Post on Tuesday. (“Republicans send resolution requesting partisan elections.”)

Republicans are asking the legislature to make our local municipal elections “partisan.”

Presently, when the primary election is held, I (being unaffiliated) am asked at the poling precinct “which ballot do you want? Republican or Democrat?” I then “choose” which of the two separate ballots I want to vote for, and only the people registered as such are listed on those separated ballots.

So, right now, if I wanted to vote for a Republican senator and a Democratic governor, I couldn’t. As of July 25th, 2020, North Carolina had about 7.8 million registered voters, 36% Democrat, 33% unaffiliated and 30% Republican.

This means that presently, if all of the Democrats vote Democrat and all of the Republicans vote Republican, the unaffiliated voters determine who gets elected. Therefore, if the Republican party can submit a “resolution” to the legislature to make all elections “partisan” then I believe I can submit a “resolution” to the legislature to “create an unaffiliated ballot.”

An unaffiliated ballot would have all candidates listed, Democrat and Republican, and we unaffiliated will continue to decide the elections without the “partisanship.”

By the way, the other 3 million North Carolinians don’t care to vote at all. So, it shouldn’t be a problem.

— Steven Arey

Salisbury