North Carolina judicial elections, 2016

One justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and five judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 8, 2016, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years.

Elections for seats on both courts were technically nonpartisan, but under a bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2015, House Bill 8, the party affiliations of Court of Appeals candidates were printed on the ballot. Court of Appeals candidates of all party affiliations would still run in one primary under the law, while the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, would advance to the general election. Primary elections would have been held on March 15, 2016, for seats with more than two candidates, but in the end, only two candidates filed for each Court of Appeals seat.

The seat held by Robert H. Edmunds, Jr. was on the 2016 ballot. Under current state law, Edmunds would have to relinquish his seat in 2021 if he was re-elected in 2016, because he would reach mandatory retirement age.

A 2015 change in state law was set to make Edmunds the first sitting justice who had the option of running in a retention election rather than running against other candidates. Edmunds chose that option, which would have meant that the state's voters would only be able to vote "for" or "against" Edmunds in the November election. If a majority of voters voted "against," the Governor would appoint a new justice to serve until the next general election. Critics cast this as an attempt by Republicans in the legislature to maintain the 4-3 Republican majority on the Court. Edmunds is a Republican, as is the current governor, who would appoint any replacement. Attorney Sabra Faires and two voters filed a lawsuit, claiming the new election method violated the North Carolina Constitution and was not an election at all, but a referendum. Faires said she wanted to run for the seat. A three-judge panel found in favor of Faires and the two voters, and the State Board of Elections established a new candidate filing period of March 16–25. If more than two candidates filed for the seat, there would be a primary election on June 7.

...
Wikipedia