The voters have spoken—at least a few voters have spoken—and they have decided state and national races for the rest of us in the runoff election yesterday.  3 ½ percent of us made the choices for the rest of us: that John C. Brooks would be the Democratic candidate for Labor Commissioner; that Dan Forest would be on the Republican ballot for Lieutenant Governor; Mike Causey on the ballot for Commissioner of Labor, Ed Goodwin for Secretary of State, and John Tedesco for Superintendant of Public instruction. Voters in the 17 counties of the new 11th Congressional district chose Mark Meadows over Vance Patterson by a wide margin, Meadows taking over 76% of the vote, 77% of Avery voters nearly mirroring that percentage—the 7% who voted—and Caldwell voters—under 5%, selecting Meadows to face Hayden Rogers by a 70-30% margin. Exactly 600 Watauga voters cast ballots, a turnout of 1 ½ percent, while 1.3% of Ashe voters—248 voters, cast ballots with no local or district races to generate interest.