Yesterday I managed to get a last-minute invitation to get blogger-access to John Edwards after his Opportunity Rocks kick-off speech here in Chapel Hill. I decided not to go since the only questions I have for him are personal, like when are you moving to (near) Carrboro, how do you like it here, isn’t it just for the schools, do you shop at Weaver Street, etc.
Well I turns out maybe I shoud have gone because now I have a serious question: Why aren’t John and Elizabeth Edwards registered to vote here? Is Orange County just another one of your stepping stones on the way to something greater, or do you actually plan to be a part of our community?
I had assumed they were staying in Raleigh until their new west-of-Carrboro pad was built. But Bora Zivkovic (a wonderful NC blogger) took advantage of yesterday’s blogger availability and reported that the Edwards family is renting an apartment in Chapel Hill! So I did a little research (and found their legal names, which turn out to be Mary Elizabeth Anania and Johnny Reid), and I couldn’t find them as registered voters here. In fact, John and Elizabeth are still registered at their Raleigh address.
What gives, y’all? Where are your kids in school?
Two very quick points:
A) Johnny Reid Edwards and Mary Elizabeth Anania are not their legal names…. those are their birth names. Their legal names currently are as follows: John Reid Edwards and Elizabeth Anania Edwards.
B) They just moved there this past summer! There has been no elections since then… the next elections are going to happen in 2006 and they’ll probably change their registration by then. They’ve been living in their Raleigh home for the past 25 yeas, so of course that is where they are registered. And, when it will be time to vote or even before then, they’ll change their registration address, etc. What’s the big deal here?
And, the reason they are moving to orange county is not to use it as a stepping stone as you suggest… but instead, because he is working at UNC Chapel Hill and they bought property to settle in a rural area.
Also, their kids started school in Chapel Hill – that’s what he said was the reason for renting here until their house is finished.
I cannot imagine they would not vote, so I expect they will register when the time comes.
P.S. E-mail me….
Janet, I’m guessing you are not from around here since you think that they are moving to a “rural” area and that there are no elections this year.
In North Carolina, we have municipal elections in odd years. One of the races the Edwards will be failing to vote in is for the School Board that runs the city school district in which they live. The deadline to register for this fall election was October 14.
So Bora (Coturnix), the time has come… and gone.
John Edwards needs to practice what he preaches!
Umm… I guess you must be right about the elections. However, what is the mockery of the “rural” area for? Are they not moving to a 100 acre rural farm land? At least, that is what I heard them say or saw being reported.
And, I’m not talking about their temporary housing, but the eventual residence.
As for missing the election, well, I guess you can hold that against them then…
Last I heard, Cate the eldest is an editorial asst. in NYC for Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter’s mag.
Early political handicapping says Edwards is in direct competition(read fundraising) with Wesley Clark and Evan Bayh of Indiana for the ’08 primary sunbelt vote. If D. Kucinich puts his money where his mouth is and many follow suit, the ’08 primary might actually be interesting and not a foregone conclusion…. cheers 🙂
Janet, while they are not in the city limits (yet) they are in the city school system (as opposed to the county system which serves the more rural part of the county). Their neighborhood is what I like to call a “pre-suburb.” It’s just a matter of time.
Ruby, I wished I’d gone to see if he plans to vote – hell, maybe even ask him to vote for me – but it wasn’t in the cards. On the upside, Laurin E. made it over and got to shake his hand.
I know for a fact that John and Elizabeth both voted by absentee ballot in last week’s Raleigh Mayoral election, and if they view their apartment in Chapel Hill as a temporary residence they are fully within their rights to vote in Wake County until their permanent residence is built. In any case if they moved to their apartment AFTER September 11, they were ONLY eligible to vote in Wake County on October 11. As to their legal name, John and Elizabeth both voted at the early voting site in Raleigh I staffed last November, John signed his authorization to vote in front of me as “Johnny”.
I’m sorry I mentioned their legal names. It’s really not important. I just thought it was interesting.
If their Chapel Hill apartment is temporary (which we know it is, in a sense), how do they get to enroll their kids in Chapel Hill schools (which started in August, before September 11)?
Residence for voting and residence for school assignment are not the same thing. A grad student who comes to Chapel Hill with a spouse and two kids, leaving his residency and voter regsitration in Wisconsin, can send his kids to Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools, they don’t have to be out on the bus twice a day to Wisconson.
That’s a valid point, Gerry. I just think that registering and voting in Orange County – where he resides and where his kids are in school – would be a good way for Edwards to practice the community engagement that he preaches to others.
I agree with you 100%!
I’ve sent Elizabeth a link to this thread