RALEIGH, N.C. – A lawsuit was filed yesterday by the North Carolina Democratic Party, challenging the General Assembly’s elimination of all judicial primaries in North Carolina. The primaries were cancelled when the legislature overrode Governor Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 656 on October 17, 2017. The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction from the federal court to allow political parties to hold primaries in elections that were made partisan by another act of the legislature in March 2017.
Anita Earls, a Democratic candidate for Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, issued the following statement after the lawsuit was filed:
“I fully support the Democratic Party’s effort to protect the right to vote for the citizens of North Carolina. The legislature’s unconstitutional attempt to deny the party’s First Amendment rights by canceling the primary effectively disenfranchises voters. I welcome the chance to compete in a primary election to earn the right to run as a Democrat.”
“Democrats and Republicans alike should have a say in which judicial candidate they believe should be on the ballot for their party in November. Manipulating the process for partisan advantage, as the Republican legislators are doing, is fundamentally undemocratic.”
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