Among the workers leaving are chief deputy commissioner Harold Megredy, assistant commissioner for administration Curtis Ricketts, state OSHA director Bob Andrews and public affairs director Marge Howell. A spokesman for Berry, who will be sworn in tomorrow, says the commissioner-elect has no problem with Payne's move. North Carolina should cast its ballot for a more uniform system of voting, so says a panel studying the state's election laws. State Senator Wib Gulley says there are at least four different kinds of voting machinery in North Carolina. Gulley, who is co-chairman of the Election Laws Revision Commission, says there needs to be a dependable, modern and efficient way of voting that works for all North Carolinians and determine how to do it.
Counties now decide what voting systems to buy.
Under the legislation the commission recommended yesterday, the General Assembly will be asked to let the State Board of Elections approve voting systems and phase out those now in use. As if you didn't already know, the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville has confirmed it. There's never been a November and December as cold as the one just concluded. It was the country's second coldest November nationwide and the seventh coldest December. And if you're holding out for a spring thaw, think again.