North Carolina local trial court judicial elections, 2016
2017 →
← 2015
|
 |
Poll opening and closing times |
North Carolina held general elections for superior and district courts on November 8, 2016. Primary elections took place on March 15, 2016, and June 7, 2016.
Unopposed races dominated the 2016 election cycle, with over 56 percent of seats seeing only one candidate file for their elections. Click here to read Ballotpedia's analysis of these races.
Primaries, which are typically held in June in North Carolina, were mostly moved to March to align with the presidential primary; however, U.S. House primary races and one superior court race were still held on June 7, 2016, due to a redistricting issue.[1]
Candidates had to file by December 21, 2015, to run in this election. In races where more than two candidates filed for one seat, a primary was required to narrow the number of general election candidates down to two. In races where only one or two candidates filed, primaries were not required, and the candidates competed only in the general election.
Seats on North Carolina's state-level appeals courts were also up for election in 2016. Click here for more information about those elections.
| HIGHLIGHTS | |
Elections
March primary
The top two vote recipients in theses primary elections advanced to the general election on November 8, 2016.
Superior courts
District 8A (Jones seat)District 8B (Jones seat)
|
District 22B (Royster seat) |
District courts
District 3A (Leech seat)
District 4 (Foy seat)District 4 (Sutton seat)
District 7 (Stewart seat) |
District 9 (Finch seat)District 12 (Devan seat)District 18 (Kreider seat)
|
District 18 (Sherrill seat)
District 26 (Brown-Williams seat)District 26 (Mann seat)
|
June primary
Superior courts
District 10C (McGuire seat)
- ☐ James Ansley
- ☑ Michael Denning
- ☑ Rebecca Waters Holt
- ☐ Hoyt Gold Tessener
- ☐ Karlene Scott Turrentine
General election
Superior courts
District 3B (Crow seat)District 5B (Cobb seat)District 8A (Jones seat) |
District 8B (Jones seat)
District 10C (McGuire seat)District 13A (Sasser seat)
|
District 20B (Lee seat)District 21C (Morgan seat)
District 22B (Royster seat) |
District courts
District 3A (Leech seat)District 4 (Foy seat)District 4 (Sutton seat)
District 5 (Ray seat)
District 7 (Stewart seat)District 8 (Turik seat)
District 9 (Finch seat)District 9A (Gentry seat)
District 10 (Bousman seat)
District 10 (Nagle seat)
District 10 (Worley seat)
|
District 11 (Holcombe seat)
District 12 (Devan seat)District 13 (Hankins seat)
District 14 (Marsh seat)District 15B (Anderson seat)District 15B (Long seat)
District 16A (Stone seat)
District 16B (Moore seat)District 18 (Foster seat)
District 18 (Jones seat)
District 18 (Kreider seat) |
District 18 (Samet seat)District 18 (Sherrill seat)
District 19B (Creed seat)
District 21 (Graham seat)District 24 (Eggers-Gryder seat)
District 26 (Brown-Williams seat)District 26 (Mann seat)
District 26 (Strickland seat)
District 27B (Shuford seat)
District 30 (Sellers seat) |
Uncontested races
Superior courts
District 3A (Foster seat)
District 5A (Gorham seat)
District 10F (Shirley seat)
District 16A (Brown seat)
|
District 16A (Wallace seat)
District 17B (Puckett seat)
District 19D (Webb seat)
District 20A (Bridges seat)
|
District 22A (Crosswhite seat)
District 24 (Horne seat)
District 27B (Pomeroy seat)
|
District courts
District 1 (Barnes seat)
District 1 (Malarney seat)
District 2 (McLendon seat)
District 2 (Paul seat)
District 3A (Braddy seat)
District 3A (DeSoto seat)
District 3B (Alexander seat)
District 3B (Mack seat)
District 3B (McFadyen seat)
District 3B (Mills seat)
District 3B (Quinn seat)
District 3B (Rowe seat)
District 4 (Cameron seat)
District 4 (Jones seat)
District 4 (Moore seat)
District 4 (Stevens seat)
District 5 (Corpening seat)
District 5 (Davis seat)
District 5 (Noecker seat)
District 5 (Robinson seat)
District 6 (Branch seat)
District 6 (Freeman seat)
District 6 (Moody seat)
District 6 (Stephenson seat)
District 7 (Britt seat)
District 7 (Brown seat)
District 7 (Covolo seat)
District 7 (Farris seat)
District 8 (Brantley seat)
District 8 (Gaylor seat)
District 8 (James seat)
District 8 (Turner seat)
District 9 (Davis seat)
District 9 (Stevenson seat)
District 9 (Yancey seat)
District 9B (Baskerville seat)District 10 (Brewer seat)
District 10 (Chasse seat)
District 10 (Christian seat)
District 10 (Davidian seat)
|
District 10 (Griffin seat)
District 10 (Rader seat)
District 10 (Sasser seat)
District 10 (Walczyk seat)
District 11 (Bryant seat)
District 11 (Faircloth seat)
District 11 (Lee seat)
District 11 (Love seat)
District 11 (Stubbs seat)
District 11 (Wells seat)
District 11 (Willis seat)
District 12 (Olivera seat)
District 12 (Pone seat)
District 13 (Jolly seat)
District 13 (Ussery seat)
District 13 (Disbrow seat)
District 15A (Lambeth seat)
District 15A (Messick seat)
District 15A (Overby seat)
District 15B (Bryan seat)
District 15B (Scarlett seat)
District 16A (Thacker seat)
District 16A (Wilson seat)
District 16B (Daniels seat)
District 17A (Grogan seat)
District 17B (Southern seat)
District 18 (Brown seat)
District 18 (Burch seat)
District 18 (Crump seat)
District 18 (Fletcher seat)
District 18 (Fox seat)
District 18 (Holliday seat)
District 18 (Vincent seat)
District 19B (Hill seat)
District 19B (Wilkins seat)
District 19C (Bickett seat)
District 20B (Gwyn seat)
District 20C (Higdon seat)
District 20C (Williams seat)
District 20D (Helms seat)
|
District 21 (Banks-Payne seat)
District 21 (Fine seat)
District 21 (Hutchins seat)
District 21 (Miller seat)
District 21 (Roemer seat)
District 21 (Sipprell seat)
District 22A (Brown seat)
District 22A (Graham seat)
District 22A (Hedrick seat)
District 22A (Underwood seat)
District 23 (Houston seat)
District 24 (Harrison seat)
District 24 (McEntire seat)
District 25 (Cherry seat)
District 25 (Holloway seat)
District 26 (Best seat)
District 26 (Chapman seat)
District 26 (Culler seat)
District 26 (E. Trosch seat)
District 26 (Eady-Williams seat)
District 26 (Hands seat)
District 26 (Henderson seat)
District 26 (Hoover seat)
District 26 (L. Trosch seat)
District 27A (Abernethy seat)
District 27A (Greenlee seat)
District 27A (Hoyle seat)
District 27A (Jackson seat)
District 27A (Thrower seat)
District 27B (Black seat)
District 27B (Reeves seat)
District 27B (Wilson seat)
District 28 (Dray seat)
District 28 (Hill seat)
District 29B (Brittain seat)
District 29B (Brooks seat)
District 29B (Cowan seat)
District 29B (Knight seat)
District 30 (Leslie seat)
District 30 (Walker seat)
|
Analysis
Unopposed incumbents won the majority of North Carolina's local judicial seats in 2016. One hundred-thirty incumbents were guaranteed to retain their seats after no challengers filed to run against them. Only one race had an unopposed newcomer guaranteed to win the open seat.
The other 75 non-incumbent candidates all ran against at least one other candidate. Twenty-six challenged an incumbent on the ballot, while the remaining 49 only faced other newcomer candidates.
Hover over the graphs on below for more information.
| Open seats |
Competitiveness |
Election rules
Primary election
If more than two candidates applied for the same position, they had to run in the primary election. The two candidates with the highest votes in the primary advanced to the general election. However, if there are only one or two candidates, they were automatically advanced to the general election.[2]
In other years, North Carolina races could advance to a second primary, which is similar to a runoff election in other states. However, the General Assembly of North Carolina eliminated second primaries for the 2016 election cycle.[3]
The potential for a second primary normally depends on whether the candidates in a particular race receive a "substantial plurality"—at least 40 percent—of the vote. That 40 percent is required for a primary candidate to proceed to the general election. This means that if there are only two candidates running for a single seat, at least one of them will receive this substantial plurality and a second primary will not be necessary. However, if there are multiple candidates running for one seat in the primary and no candidate receives at least 40 percent of the vote, the top two candidates advance to a second primary (though the second-place candidate must request such a primary).[4][5][6]
Selection method
North Carolina Superior Court
- See also: Partisan election of judges
The 98 judges of the North Carolina Superior Courts are chosen in partisan elections to serve eight-year terms. From 1998 through 2016, elections for superior court judges were nonpartisan; however, on March 23, 2017, the North Carolina legislature changed the method of election to partisan elections by overriding Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of HB 100. This change was effective with the 2018 superior court elections.[7][8][9][10][11]
The chief judge of each superior court is chosen by seniority.[12]
Qualifications
To serve on a superior court, a judge must be:
North Carolina District Court
- See also: Partisan election of judges
The North Carolina District Courts utilize partisan elections in the selection of judges. District judges serve four-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to continue serving. From 2002 through 2016, elections for district court judges were nonpartisan; however, on March 23, 2017, the North Carolina legislature changed the method of election to partisan elections by overriding Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of HB 100. This change was effective with the 2018 district court elections.[7][13][14]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:[7]
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- a district resident; and
- under the age of 72 (retirement at 72 is mandatory).
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms North Carolina judicial election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Election Calendar," accessed December 23, 2015
- ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "§ 163-322. Nonpartisan primary election method," accessed August 20, 2015
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "2016 Election Information," accessed March 15, 2016
- ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "§ 163-111. Determination of primary results; second primaries," accessed July 10, 2014
- ↑ Polk County Democrats, "Second Primaries," archived July 10, 2014
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Running for Judgeships," accessed August 20, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: North Carolina," archived October 3, 2014 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "limited" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "Session Law 2015-292: House Bill 8," October 29, 2015
- ↑ The News & Observer, "Veto override means voters will know judges’ party affiliations," March 23, 2017
- ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "House Bill 100," accessed May 5, 2017
- ↑ North Carolina General Assembly, "Session Law 2018-121, House Bill 717," accessed August 30, 2019
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedgeneral - ↑ The News & Observer, "Veto override means voters will know judges’ party affiliations," March 23, 2017
- ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "House Bill 100," accessed May 5, 2017
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of North Carolina, Middle District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of North Carolina, Middle District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina
State courts:
Supreme Court of North Carolina • North Carolina Court of Appeals • North Carolina Superior Courts • North Carolina District Courts
State resources:
Courts in North Carolina • North Carolina judicial elections • Judicial selection in North Carolina
| ||||||||||
