Tuesday saw some big Davidson election news

With early voting set to begin at Cornelius Town Hall on Saturday October 28th, it is now officially crunch time in election season and Davidson saw some serious action on Tuesday.

Save Davidson made two major announcements.

The first announcement brieflt floated on the group's Facebook page was its formation as a 501c(4) non-profit.  This designation with the IRS alows the group to operate as a tax exempt organization.  However, donations are not tax deductable.

501(c)4 groups are called "social wellfare" organizations intended to promote certain social causes.  Unlike 501(c)3 groups however, this designation allows political activity in support of promoting the group's social wellfare goals.

Hours after the 501(c)4 announcement, Save Davidson used that designation to do just that - publishing a slate of candidates most attuned to its goals.  Those goals include:

• Control high-density development
• Solve traffic problems
• Ensure government transparency
• Restore fiscal accountability
• Preserve small-town values

Save Davidson recommends the following candidates.

For Mayor:  Rusty Knox

For Commissioner: David Sitton, Matthew Fort, Shana Erber.

“Considering incumbents often have the advantage of name recognition in elections, we recommend that people who want change in our town cast their votes for these candidates,” said Denise Beall, founder of the group. “With so many candidates in the race, people are concerned about diluting the vote so they have requested we provide a voter guide.”

There are five town board seats. Save Davidson is recommending that citizens vote for Sitton, Fort and Erber and then pick two additional people from the following list: Autumn Michael, Jim Fuller and Ryan Fay.

With the Save Davidson group boasting a large membership this kind of recommendation in a field with a large number of candidates could certainly be a game changer.

In other election news on Tuesday, that large field got a bit smaller.  Commissioner candidate George Berger announced on his campaign Facebook page he was going to "suspend" his campaign and would not be attending any more candidate forums.  Berger cited the time commitment and recent discussion that made him realize he could best serve the town in other ways.  At this late date however, Berger's name will still appear on the ballot as it is too late to have it removed.

Things are really getting interesting now as this election season heads into the final turn towards the finish line.