Asheville: Early Voting has started/ Voters guide here

(progressives please consider writing in Robin Cape and voting for Cecil Bothwell)


Voters guide:

http://www.mountainx.com/news/2009/092309the_choice_is_yours

Three mayoral candidates and nine Council candidates are on the ballot heading into the primaries. Early voting for Asheville's municipal election began on Sept. 17 and runs through Oct. 3, followed by the big day at the polls on Oct. 6.

This year's campaign season has already seen some shakeups since filing ended in July. Two filers, mayoral candidate Denise Pendleton and Council candidate Jenny Bowen, have quit the race, though their names will still appear on the ballot. Readers won't find incumbent and write-in candidate Robin Cape on this summary, as there is no option to fill in write-in candidates on the primary ballot. She will, however, have a spot in our General Election candidate Q&A in October. On the primary ballot, voters can each pick three Council candidates and one mayoral candidate. Once all is said and done, six Council and two mayoral candidates will go into November's general election.

Meanwhile, there is no shortage of opportunities to see candidates in action. Forums and appearances are scheduled all around town (see "Campaign Calendar"). Some have even issued their own surveys. Several candidates have answered the "The Get There Asheville" multimodal transportation survey; results are online at http://www.getthereasheville.com.

If you haven't registered, don't fret. You can still register for the primaries at one-stop voting at the Buncombe County Election Services headquarters, 189 College St.

In the next few pages, you can read candidates' answers to 10 questions we thought most pressing for the city of Asheville heading into the election. We asked candidates to keep answers to 50 words or less (a no doubt daunting task). Still, because of space constraints, the answers have been edited for length as well as clarity.