Way too many candidates
Published August 9, 2014
by Doug Clark, Greensboro News-Record, August 8, 2014.
If you're a lawyer in good standing in North Carolina, you're entitled to run for a seat on the N.C. Court of Appeals.
And you are.
In fact, 19 of you are running for the seat that just opened when Judge John Martin retired last week.
That's right. When filing ended at noon today, the candidate list numbered 19. I assume that's a record of some sort.
They are running en masse in a special election, which will be decided on the regular election day in November.
Because of the short time frame, there will be no primary to thin out the herd.
It won't be necessary for the winner to claim a majority. A simple plurality will do.
Which means, theoretically, a 6 percent vote is plenty.
It's a crap shoot. These candidates are trying to beat the odds. One of them will. One lucky lawyer will get a seat on the Court of Appeals.
Of course, they'll all entitled to try. I will just point out one fact.
Sitting Judge Donna Stroud is running for re-election without opposition.
Not one of these candidates, therefore, had the gumption to file in February to run against Stroud in a regular election. For what that's worth.
Who are these candidates? Chuck Winfree from Greensboro is one. He's a former member of the State Board of Elections and a credible contender. John Tyson and John Arrowood are former Court of Appeals judges who lost the last time they ran.
The others? Well, give me some time. But there's only so much time.
This will be a free-for-all that may be decided by random voting.
As if the normal method of choosing judges isn't bad enough.
