Editorial: Voters to greet wealth of choices on Election Day

North Carolina voters will find something at the polls in November they haven’t seen in years. Choice.

Just one race, Wilson County’s 24th state House District where Democrat Jean Farmer-Butterfield will be seeking her ninth term, has only a single candidate.

While no Democrats filed to run in the 3rd Congressional District, where Walter Jones has served since 1995, there are two Republicans challenging him in the May 8 primary.

It is an astonishing shift. The hyper-gerrymandering of North Carolina’s congressional and legislative seats over the last decade left – and continues to leave – elections in many district uncompetitive. So many districts tilted so far toward one party – particularly Republicans – opposition efforts are symbolic at best.

In 2010, even before the current scheme of gerrymandering (much of which the courts have ruled is unconstitutional), 28 percent of the 170 of the seats for the legislature were unopposed in the general election.

With the pumped-up gerrymandering, unopposed seats have increased to as many as 47 percent – mostly held by Republicans – that went unopposed. In the world’s greatest democracy, nearly half of the public’s representatives were essentially anointed to power.

So, what’s changed? All but a few districts still remain heavily gerrymandered. Democrats in particular, who have been fighting in the courts over the shape of election districts, made a concerted effort this year to get candidates in every legislative race – and they succeeded. They clearly took to heart the admonition that if you don’t participate you shouldn’t complain.

Republicans responded and made sure that there was opposition in those Democratic districts that had seen little challenge in the past. The result is unprecedented election-year competition across the state. That is a good thing.

Clearly, voters are fed up with the lack of choices and options. Even in the face of continued lopsided odds in many legislative and congressional districts, not to mention the schemes to dissuade people from seeking public office or even participating in elections, citizens – some who have never sought elective office before and probably don’t think of themselves as activists -- offered themselves up. They want to encourage debate and discussion of the critical issues the state faces.

There is no better way than election campaigns, for voters to learn about candidates’ commitment to public schools, a growing economy, assuring health care for all those in need, demanding accountability in spending public funds, safe and secure prisons, a clean environment and good quality of life – and what policies and practices they’ll pursue to achieve them.

The job of the candidates who are now on the ballot, will be move off the sidelines and actively reach out to voters to let them know where they stand.  They'll have the challenge to  differentiate themselves from their opponents without being divisive.

While it is a good sign for North Carolina’s democracy that so many have offered themselves to the voters, this is just a start.

We look forward to campaigns where candidates are assertive about their hopes and plans for North Carolina and are constructively challenged by their opponents.

The foundation is set for a campaign that will give voters the opportunity to not simply pick someone on a ballot, but make an informed choice on Nov. 6, Election Day, about who will represent them in Raleigh or Washington.