"Get Out the Vote" | Eastern NC Now

    For those of you who think your vote doesn't count, tell that to Chief Justice John Roberts. He has thrown the Obamacare ball back into the voters court. He basically said, if you don't like the health care law, it is up to you, the voters, to change the Congress and the President to get the law repealed.

    That brings us to the upcoming Second Primary election (or Run-Off election) on July 17, 2012 (early voting started on June 29 at the Beaufort Board of Election). Expectations are that less than 5% of eligible voters will bother to vote in the run-off elections. That is a BIG mistake for everyone who pays exorbitant insurance rates in eastern NC, and that is everyone. Whether you rent or own property, you pay insurance. Landlords include it in your rent, and homeowners pay it directly to the insurance companies. Eastern NC pays as much as 5 times the rate for wind insurance in other NC counties (according to NC-20) even though statistics prove that western NC sustains as much or more wind damage as those of us in eastern NC.

    The NC Insurance Commissioner is the single most important person in determining what the insurance rates will be across the state; and there is a clear choice for Insurance Commissioner in the Republican run-off race. Richard Morgan, a candidate who was kicked out of the NC Republican Executive Committee for throwing his fellow Republicans under the bus, who is getting big money from the insurance industry, and who has promised on his own Facebook page that he will raise insurance rates in eastern NC over and above the already exorbitant and unbalanced rates we currently pay; Or, Mike Causey who is a noted conservative, and has stated that we need to set rates in eastern NC based on the actual risk thus making our rates more equitable with the rest of the state.

    In this run-off election, your vote is undoubtedly more important that in many other elections. Carteret County voters, and voters in eastern NC could make the difference in who will be the next Insurance Commissioner. If nothing else gets you out to vote, then your high insurance bill should get you into the voter's booth. All precincts are open on July 17; Please get out and vote. For the sake of your bank account, VOTE July 17.