The North Carolina House of Representatives is scheduled Wednesday to attempt to override Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill regarding judicial elections. The bill in question would make elections for superior and district court judges partisan again, meaning the party of a candidate would be listed on the ballot. Currently that isn’t the case, and Cooper thinks it should stay that way, saying the judiciary doesn’t need more partisanship injected into it. But while touring an auto parts manufacturing facility outside of Asheville, the governor all but conceded he won’t win this fight. “This is a purely political bill that will probably end up with a purely political veto override", the governor says.
Republican leadership in the General Assembly has rapidly brought partisanship back to judicial elections in the past couple of years, arguing it gives voters clearer information on candidates they’re voting for. Around 2000, all judicial races were made non-partisan in North Carolina in an attempt to eliminate any potential influence campaign donations could have on court rulings.