News-Record.com

I wasn't able to interview at-large candidate Sandra Alexander in time for the Saturday compilation we had on filings for the Guilford County Board of Education, Board of Commissioners and other public offices. However, Alexander faxed me some information about her this week and I wanted to share it.

Alexander, a former English professor at N.C. A&T State University is the owner/CEO of Greensboro Scenic Tours, a local sightseeing tour and transportation business. Her platform includes: fiscal responsibility, parental involvement, innovative educational programming and performance accountability/teacher support. Sound familiar?

Alexander formerly served on the board of directors for the Greensboro YWCA and North Carolina Writer's Network. She is a current participant in Impact Greensboro and member of the board of trustees for Triad Stage.

Erik "E.C." Huey, one of five at-large candidates for the Guilford County Board of Education, takes his campaign a step up by holding a virtual town hall meeting with the public on Wednesday. He's also beating doing this about a week ahead of a candidate forum that will take place at Northern High next Tuesday.

Huey says the Webchat will be an opportunity for citizens to ask questions and dialogue with the candidate in real-time about the issues in his campaign.

The discussion will take place from 7-9 p.m. and can be accessed here or here.

I try not to make predictions to my editors about election results because I'm not that good at it. The at-large race somewhat threw me for a loop. I figured Michael McKinney would move on to November, but was surprised that Erik Huey did not crack the top three because of his long and strong online campaign. I didn't count on David Crawford getting as many votes as he did.

However, after polling voters on Tuesday I realized there is not necessarily any rhyme or reason to the numbers. Many voters go on name recognition, regardless of the candidates stance on the issues. Some of the people I talked to said they could not even remember what at-large candidate they selected. And this was five minutes walking out the door.

One gentleman I interviewed said he picked Sandra Alexander because a campaign volunteer handed him a card with her name on it on his way into Eastern Middle School. Another woman said she voted for David Crawford because her husband told her to (she couldn't remember why her husband was a supporter).

I talked to Michael McKinney last night and he said a woman voted for him because his name sounded right. Huh?

Clearly, there is no direct correlation between number of votes and support of the candidates' positions on educational issues.

There may, however, be a more direct correlation when it comes to funds spent. Both Sandra Alexander and McKinney spent more than $2,000 on their campaigns, according to the Guilford County Board of Elections. Alan Hawkes spent $456. No reports were filed by David Crawford and Erik Huey.