Rowan County Elections Board member Kenneth Stutts offered remarks about “what makes our country so much more than any other place” in remarks preceding the Early Voting Calendar decision by the Board.

Let me begin today by giving thanks to all our fellow community members for attending today and voicing their opinions on this matter. I am so very grateful to live in a county where so many of our friends and neighbors still care so deeply about our democratic process. I am proud to call many of you my friends.

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about what makes our country so much more than any other place. I have come to the realization that it is not because of our money, our ideology, our military prowess, our strident individualism, or even our so called American dream – these are merely by products of a shared sense that we all have.

Rather, our country is the one place that affords everyone the opportunity to be the best they can be. No other place is better at this than here. 

But this is a fragile situation. There is a sense of despair and hopelessness that permeates among a great number of us.

Across our society, people feel alone and isolated. And most consequently, they feel they have no say and no control other their own lives. As one person said to me the other day, “It feels like I’m drowning without hope.” The most dangerous are those without hope. 

Many have given up. Many feel they no longer have the opportunity to fully participate. And we can see this in both the decline in voter registration and voting turnout. They don’t have the opportunity to be the best they can be. 

I am so appreciative that in my life I am able to work for myself, to make my own schedule, and in reality to do whatever I desire – and honestly without this freedom I would not be able to serve our community at the Board of Elections. 

But many of our friends and neighbors do not have this luxury. They are at the whims of their job – or jobs – their school, their family obligations, et cetera. 

For most people, gone are the days of a nine to five structured work week, or even a consistent schedule. Gone are the days where people lived near where they work – especially in our county where good paying jobs that are able to support a family are hard to come by. 

Most people’s lives are chaotic. They don’t know when they are going to be able to get to the grocery store, let alone when or if they are going to be able to go vote. They need every opportunity possible. 

State law affords us the ability, if we so choose, to grant our friends and neighbors seventeen days of the opportunity to participate, and I believe we should give them that opportunity. 

I am in full support of Plan C which has the maximum number of early voting days allowed by law, and I will not support a plan that has fewer. Thank you. 

Kenneth Stutts