Several Buncombe County Republican Party members banded together to conceive and execute a comprehensive effort to provide every one of the county’s 82,000 registered Republican and Unaffiliated voter households with conservative candidate recommendations. The glossy 5 X 7 postcard outlined the critical issues facing voters and emphasized the importance of voting this year. All state and local candidates were named, including candidates for the NC Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and County School Boards. Each postcard was precinct-specific based on the differing candidates for each of the 80 county voting precincts – for example, different County Commission districts, NC House districts, and municipal seats.
Project Team Member Ken Hawkins told reminded us that Buncombe County remains the only “Blue” county in our 17-county 11th District. This project could present a unique opportunity to help nurture the growth of a “Red” or “Purple” voter base in the county!
The team was determined to have the cards in voters’ mailboxes well before early voting began on October 20. The cost of this project was substantial, close to $40,000, including printing and postage for over 80,000 cards. The team raised funds explicitly needed for this project within two weeks. David Troxler told us that the project team briefly considered reducing the project scope to exclude unaffiliated voters. The team decided, though, to go big.
Will it pay off? Well, it certainly couldn’t hurt!
On top of this effort, the Buncombe GOP office promoted and conducted several training programs for Poll Observers, Door Canvassers, Voter Registration volunteers and phone bank volunteers.
This brief post only exposes the tip of the spear that has been working overtime to promote conservative values and candidates who support those values. Many other group and individual efforts focused on changing our local political status quo. We’ll soon learn if the hard work all paid off.
