National, state and local offices will be on the ballot across North Carolina for a high-stakes 2024 election, and it all begins next week, as candidates will begin submitting paperwork to launch their campaigns.

New town leadership is looking forward to getting things moving again in the tiny Graham County municipality of Lake Santeetlah, after a pair of incumbents and a pair of former Town Council members won resounding victories repudiating actions taken by the town’s elected leaders over the past two years. 

After contentious debate over the decision to make the Macon County Board of Education partisan-elected, county commissioners tabled the issue to get input from school board members and the public. 

After canvassing, the vote count is official, with Brad Waldrop, Mark Jones and Blitz Estridge winning seats on the Sylva Town Council, in addition to incoming Mayor Johnny Phillips. 

Tuesday, Nov. 7 was an important night for out LGBTQ+ candidates across the country, the state and Haywood County, with more running — and winning — than in any previous odd-year election in U.S. history. 

They ran a noisy campaign, filled with distortions, misinformation and outright fabrication, but in the end, that’s all it was — noise. 

The Sylva Town Council could have three new members, including a new mayor after vote totals become official later this week. 

Maggie Valley will retain two of its incumbents, including its mayor, for the next four years. 

Fears that North Carolina’s new voter ID implementation would disenfranchise legitimate voters have proven unfounded — at least in Haywood County, where municipal election turnout was stronger than usual. 

The Town of Canton’s governing board has been through a lot in the last four years — with the 2021 flood and the 2023 closure of the town’s largest employer — but they must be doing a good job managing the chaos, as voters decided overwhelmingly to return Mayor Pro Temp Gail Mull and Alderman Ralph Hamlett for another term.