ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Board of Elections will soon have another member following a meeting Thursday by the newly appointed state board.

 I have written a syndicated column on politics and public policy for North Carolina newspapers since 1986. Have I influenced how readers think about the issues I discuss? I certainly hope so, at least to some extent.

Partisanship is one of the illnesses plaguing the U.S. body politic.

We see this every election cycle as millions of voters cast straight-ticket ballots for candidates just because of the capital letter before their name.

“Friendship,” wrote C. S. Lewis in a December 1935 letter, “is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, ‘sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’”

Every time an election rolls around, we’re encouraged to get out and vote.

This year, as just about every election year in the past 20 years, we were told this was “the most important election” of our time.

Let’s take a look at some of the candidates who won this all-important election.

ROCKINGHAM — Some might think mixing alcohol and politics is a bad idea, but one local group is doing just that.

Richmond Young Professionals is hosting its second Pints and Politics event Tuesday, where constituents can have a brew or two and ask questions of candidates for office.

RYP member David Stogner said the addition of beer is a way to bring out some young adults who might not otherwise get involved.

“We thought it would lighten the mood a little bit,” he said. “We didn’t want it to be stale … just a light atmosphere, so people felt that they could have a one-on-one conversation with somebody running for office.”