Nonpartisan Races on the 2014 Ballot

by Nelda Holder

Candidates for the NC General Assembly and U.S. Senate, as well as Buncombe County sheriff and district attorney, should be familiar names to local voters by now.

But the rest of the 2014 ballot may come as something of a surprise when early voting begins here on October 23.

The judgeship races at the state and local level have received scant publicity, and the constitutional amendment to be voted on (see accompanying article) is likely to be a mystery to most voters.

Judgeships are listed under “Nonpartisan Offices” and include candidates for chief justice and three associate justice seats on the state Supreme Court, along with four NC Court of Appeals seats. There is a bewildering field of candidates (19 in all) for one of the appeals court seats; two others have two candidates each, while the candidate for one seat is running unopposed.

In 2013, the Legislature repealed the instant run-off method of deciding such nonpartisan races. That system would have narrowed the field for a subsequent runoff election. This year, the top vote-getter among those 19 names on the ballot will be declared the winner, with no run-off contingency.

To assist voters with the less familiar judicial candidates, the NC Board of Elections (under the previous law) provided a Judicial Voter Guide to all voters containing biographies of the state judicial candidates. The guide was paid for with money from the former NC Public Campaign Fund. That, too, was repealed in 2013, although residual funds have allowed a mailing to all voters again for 2014. The guide should have arrived at voter residences by now, but it is also available online: (www.ncsbe.gov/ncsbe/Portals/0/FilesT/JudicialVoterGuide2014.pdf).

Local judgeships (Buncombe County District 28) are not included in the guide, but of the five District Court seats open, only one of is being contested. J. Matthew Martin faces Ed Clontz in that race.

One other local, nonpartisan election has also received little publicity. Alan Ditmore, William Hamilton, and Elise Israel are vying for the two open seats for Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor; voters may vote for two of the three, and the two top vote-getters will be seated. Members of the Board of Supervisors serve four-year terms and meet monthly to establish priorities for the district, which provides technical assistance throughout the county regarding erosion control and water quality issues.

For more information on the duties of the Soil and Water office and board, visit the Buncombe district’s website at www.buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/soil