The Census Bureau reports that blacks voted at a higher rate than any other race in the 2012 election. Nationally, two-thirds (66.2) of eligible blacks voted, while non-Hispanic whites voted at a slightly lower rate of 64.1%. According to data released Wednesday, this is the first time blacks have voted at a higher rate than whites since the Census Bureau started publishing statistics on voting by the eligible citizen population in 1996.

Overall, the percentage of eligible citizens who voted declined from 63.6 percent in 2008 to 61.8 percent in 2012.

But what about NC? The gap was much greater: 80.2% of black citizens voted in 2012; 66.3% for non-Hispanic whites. In 2008, both groups voted at the same rate, 68.3%. It's not, however, the first time blacks have voted at a higher rate in NC. In 2004, the black voting rate was 64.6% while non-Hispanic whites' rate was 62.3%.

The age group with the highest voting rate in 2012, 79.4%, was ages 65-74. The lowest was ages 18-24 at 50%.

The next Election Day is more than seven weeks away, but candidates' campaign signs have proliferated all along Durham's streets these past few days.

If it seems a little early for that kind of thing, times have changed. So have Durham's election rules, and some in the political community are miffed that not everybody got the word.

"This is about fairness. No more, no less," said George Lawrence, campaign chairman for state Senate candidate Kerry Sutton, one who didn't get it, while her opponent is, current City Councilman Mike Woodard, is one who did.

Because he, like some other candidates, asked for it. It's like this –