NORTH CAROLINA NON-PARTISAN JUDICAL CANDIDATES
These races were made non-partisan in 2002 because the Democratic majority in the legislature was unhappy about Republicans winning statewide judicial races and taking majorities on the appellate courts. There is no indication on the ballot as to the party affiliation of the judicial candidates, so many voters have little idea as to who to vote for when they get to that part of the ballot.
ALSO, a straight ticket vote does not cover any of the judges, so voters do have to mark the individual judicial races separately.
The Republicans currently have a one seat majority on the NC Supreme Court. For that to continue, Republican Barbara Jackson needs to win the Supreme Court Race. (Keep in mind that whatever redistricting plan is passed by the General Assembly, there is likely to be an appeal and we need a majority of constitutional judges on the Supreme Court when that happens.)
Ann Marie Calabria, Rick Elmore and Sanford Steelman are all current conservative Republican Court of Appeals judges who need to be re-elected. In the 4th race, we should all vote for Dean Poirier, conservative Republican running against the state attorney for the ACLU.
The 5th race is unusual because the vacancy occurred after a primary could be held, so 13 candidates are running for the Wynn seat (Wynn was confirmed by the US Senate in August to be a Federal judge). Voters have to mark 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices.
The recommended 1st choice is Doug McCullough, a conservative Republican who served on the Court of Appeals from 2000-2008. He was defeated in the Obama Democrat wave. The other two conservative Republicans recommended by Skip Stam are Dillon and Garner in that order. Jewel Farlow is also a Republican.
