Wingate Lassiter

Writing this on Tuesday before knowing the outcomes of the 2020 election, here's my wish list of things I'd like to see different for future elections:

• Political campaign advertising delivered by the candidates, and only the candidates --- not by the "dark money" PACs whose identifies are obscured. A more restrictive system would hold candidates personally responsible for their sales pitches, shaming those who would condone ads that blatantly make things up to demonize an opponent.

• Voluntary policing of the content of political ads by the TV stations that made a killing this season by selling air time for misleading commercials. Social-media giants like Facebook and Google tell us they're cracking down on such mischief. Wish the television CEOs would do the same.

• Nonpartisan election of all local and all judicial offices that should have nothing to do with political party affiliation. We've got that for Johnston County school-board members (at least in theory if not in practice). It ought to be the same for our county commissioners, district judges, and other judicial offices all the way up through the N.C. Supreme Court.

Do you have some pet election peeves to add to my list?