Local leaders oppose two similar bills in the N.C. General Assembly to reduce early voting programs.

 North Carolina will have a new and very different Lt. Governor come January. Dan Forest is an extremely conservative Republican from Raleigh who, though the son of a congresswoman, has never before served in elected office. An architect by training, Forest defeated Democrat Linda Coleman by a razor-thin margin in a race that wasn’t officially settled until more than a week after Election Day.

The trailing Democratic Party candidate for lieutenant governor said Monday she won’t seek a statewide recount, admitting that a new tally was unlikely to make up the nearly 6,900 votes she needs. And it would cost North Carolina’s 100 counties at least $1.5 million to recount.

Below is campaign finance information for all the local candidates who opened finance committees with the Union County Board of Elections. All contributions and disbursments are reported by the individual campaigns and are public record.

Though he understands the frustration, John Steward, chairman of the Union County Republican Party, does not find this kind of reaction to be productive.

A total of 8,221 people, 58.9 percent of the cast ballots, were in favor of the town borrowing $8.5 million to begin construction on municipal parks. That amount would spur development of two large parks with amenities like an athletic complex, dog park, playgrounds, disk golf and walking trails.