By Able Allen, Virginia Daffron, David Floyd and Daniel Walton
Welcome to Mountain Xpress’ 2018 general election voter guide. We’ve asked pertinent questions of all the local candidates, and now the choice is yours. At Xpress, we believe a well-informed voter considers more than a candidate’s party affiliation, making choices based on a leader’s character, values and answers to tough questions.
While party politics remain a critical force, more and more voters are registering as unaffiliated, rather than as a member of one of the two major parties.
No matter where you are in Western North Carolina, your vote counts. For information about early voting or your registration, visit Buncombe County Elections Services.
Click the links below to see candidates’ answers:
![](http://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Buncombe-County-Commissioner-Districts-720x551.png)
U.S. House of Representatives District 10 (Charlotte to Asheville)
U.S. House of Representatives District 11 (West of Asheville)
N.C. Senate District 48 (Transylvania, Henderson and Buncombe Counties)
N.C. Senate District 49 (Buncombe County)
N.C. House of Representatives District 114 (Asheville)
N.C. House of Representatives District 115 (Eastern Buncombe County)
N.C. House of Representatives District 116 (Western Buncombe County)
N.C. House of Representatives District 117 (Henderson County)
Buncombe County Board of Commissioners District 1 (Asheville)(Unopposed)
Buncombe County Board of Commissioners District 2 (Eastern Buncombe County)
Buncombe County Board of Commissioners District 3 (Western Buncombe County)
Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor
Buncombe County District Attorney and Buncombe County Clerk of Court (Unopposed)
District 28 Superior and District Court Judges (Buncombe County)(Unopposed)
Buncombe County Board of Education(Unopposed)
Early voting began a week ago. Why can’t MX get its voter guides out in a more timely manner?
I was hoping for a sample ballot with mountain express’ recommendations. Must be here somewhere…
Hi Lindsay, we don’t endorse or recommend candidates. Thanks for checking out our voter guide.
MX has generally very good voting guides except for the fact that they are never published BEFORE early voting begins. Is there a reason why you all won’t print them in time for when people actually start voting?
We are glad to prepare our voter guides for the community for every primary and general election. Like other long-term projects such as our Best of WNC awards, it’s challenging to fit the preparation of these guides around a weekly publishing schedule that never stops. We start work on the voter guides months in advance, but there’s a limit to how early we can send the questionnaires. Too early and the key issues in the campaign haven’t yet become clear, and campaigns have not yet worked out their platforms and organizational structure. We also try to be respectful of the candidates’ busy schedules by giving them sufficient time to respond.
We do a lot of behind the scenes work to ensure that as many candidates as possible are represented in the guide and that all have an equal opportunity to present their case to voters. Every campaign has a different structure, and it’s a real logistical challenge to connect with them all. Given the importance of getting every detail correct, it’s not work that can be delegated beyond the small team you see on the byline. In a perfect world, I agree that the guides would be online even before early voting starts, but we haven’t cracked the code on making that happen alongside our standards of completeness, accuracy, fairness and relevance.