The Democratic primary runoff for labor commissioner settled the ballot for the general election. Democrat Mary Fant Donnan, who defeated John C. Brooks, will take on Republican incumbent Cherie Berry.

But it also raised plenty of eyebrows about the cost and low turnout.

The runoff Tuesday cost more than $50 a voter, said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina.

Hall said the vote Tuesday cost about $4 million to operate about 3,000 polling places and process the ballots of about 75,000 voters. In some counties, turnout was so low that the cost per vote reached $70, Hall said.

Hall supports instant runoff voting, in which voters can mark a first and second choice on election day. The state has tested the system, but it is not used widely.

"There's got to be a better way than these embarrassing statewide runoff elections," Hall said.

State Rep. Paul Luebke says he'll press for instant runoffs in 2009.

The Durham Democrat, who sponsored a pilot project for municipal elections in 2005, said the concept was scary to a lot of legislators, but after elections in Cary and Hendersonville, he thinks they may be more open to it.

"In 2009, if I'm back, I expect to participate in a discussion about how we could use instant-runoff voting as a statewide policy," he said.

Luebke said the traditional primary runoff method has its own risks, including extremely low turnout.

"It's really not a good idea to have so few people deciding these runoff races," he said.

Price gets earmarks

The first federal spending bill out of the gate this spring has two earmarks from U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat and the state's only member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

The committee approved the Homeland Security spending bill this week. Price is chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the $39 billion bill.

Within it, Price directed $1 million to buy communications equipment at the emergency operations center at the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

He also directed $5 million toward something called "Impact of Climate on Future Disasters." The money will also go to the state public safety department, said Paul Cox, a Price spokesman. The money will allow geospatial experts to study the long-term effects of climate change and sea-level rise to figure out potential risks for communities, fisheries, agriculture and the environment.

Earmarks are special spending priorities inserted into larger bills by specific members of Congress. They have been criticized by groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington organization that put together a database listing the earmarks.

Smithies for Peace

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's slip of the tongue gave a UNC-Chapel Hill professor another award on Wednesday.

Presiding over the state Senate's honoring of Dr. Oliver Smithies, Perdue congratulated him on winning the "Nobel Peace Prize."

Smithies was a joint recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for his work on gene modification of stem cells in mice.

Mixed marriage

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler reached across an aisle usually reserved for walking down.

This past weekend, Troxler's son, Shawn, married the daughter of staunch Democratic supporter and activist Roni Roberg at the Long View Center in Raleigh. Troxler is a Republican.

The happy occasion led to more than one bipartisan moment, as many of the bride's friends and family ended up on the groom's side of the church, and vice versa, leading to a mixed crowd.

Still, Troxler stuck to his own party when it came to renting a place for the rehearsal dinner, choosing the Gov. Jim Martin building at the N.C. State Fairgrounds -- named for a former Republican.

He was philosophical about the wedding.

"You have to get votes any way you can," he said in a statement. "We both made a concerted effort to reach across the aisle."

Union to spend in N.C.

One of the nation's largest unions is targeting North Carolina elections.

The Service Employees International Union announced this week that it will spend $85 million targeting swing states for the presidential election as well as races for governor, U.S. senator and U.S. representative.

Among the 10 swing states it listed is North Carolina.

It is not yet clear which races the union is targeting or how the spending will dovetail with traditional efforts by its recent affiliate, the State Employees Association of North Carolina.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.