Midterm elections include federal, state, local and municipal offices

National, state, and county mid-term elections occur every four years in the middle of a president’s four year term.

On the federal level, North Carolina voters will elect U.S. Senators and House representatives by districts. Nationwide this includes all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives but only one third of seats in our 100-member U.S. Senate.

Your Burke County ballot includes one U.S.Senate seat, one House seat, eight State judges, and a district attorney.

Burke also includes one N.C. senator and one House seat, along with nine North Carolina District Judges and a district attorney.

Locally, Burke County elects two county commissioners; three members to our Board of Education; a Superior Court clerk; sheriff; and conservation supervisor.

The town of Hildebran elects three Council members and its mayor while Rutherford College also elects three council members and its mayor.

Finally, three proposed amendments to our State Constitution include: 1) “requires limits on property tax increases;” 2) requires presenting a “photo identification before voting;” and 3) keeps the State income tax rate at 3.5% or less.

Together, they have a potential to shift more authority to our state legislature and away form local governments.

North Carolina offers three ways to vote: (1) Early Voting in person, at any designated site Oct. 15 - 31 from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; or (2) Election Day, Nov. 3, vote in person 6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. at your home precinct booth; or (3) vote by mail.

As a registered voter you may request a mail in absentee ballot before October 20 that must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.

At present your voter ID must be established by Oct. 9 for early voting or the Nov. 3 Election Day. Valid IDs include a current North Carolina driver’s license or a Department of Motor Vehicles ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security or a U.S. passport.

Contact Burke’s Board of Elections at 828-764-9010 for other allowed IDs or visit 2128 South Sterling St., Suite 100, Morganton.

Basic voter ID requirements include American citizenship, North Carolina resident, 18 years old by Election Day, and living in your precinct 30 days prior to voting.

With a proper ID, students may vote when residing in North Carolina but attend college in another state. Those residing in another state but attending college in North Carolina are also eligible to vote.

You may vote in person using same-day registration during the Oct. 15 - 31 early voting period. Voter registration applications submitted fewer than 25 days before an election will not be counted until after Nov. 3.

Additional info is available online at https://www.burkenc.org/1264/ Board-of-Elections.

When compared to democracies worldwide, U.S. midterm elections have historically attracted the lowest number of voters; however, in our last two midterm election cycles U.S. voter turnout was the highest in four decades.

U.S. Presidential elections most often attract more than 60% of eligible voters while mid-term elections average only around 40% of registered voters. One major concern with these numbers is the low participation of voters aged 18 to 24 years old. From the other side, voters 65 and older have the highest turnout.

Remember that old timey saying, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” Today there are others who suggest “take your complaints to the ballot box — and VOTE!