By Dee Williams

I am voting because I am afraid of what will happen if I do not. Before now, I voted for “hope,” but now I am voting out of “urgency.”

It is as if people have abrogated their good sense and the ability to say, “No.” A democracy’s survival depends on people having practiced judgment and accountability – no matter who we are.

I hope that when history is written about the Election of 2020, they will say that “We the people” came to the polls and saved democracy, and in a resounding way.

Dee Williams has run for local elective offices in Buncombe County under the Democratic, Republican and Green Party banners. She was 1971 valedictorian of newly integrated Asheville High, and graduated magna cum laude from Winston-Salem State. She has taught, operated nightclubs, directed a minority business development center, been a hotel housekeeper and headed a company in the road-building business. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that her recent efforts included advocacy for removing criminal history questions from job applications, and pressing Mission Hospital to pay all employees a living wage.