Judicial Voting guidelines help needed

[moonlight]

I know this post shows just how geeky I am when it comes to taking personal responsibility to be a informed voter.

How can I find out who to vote for when it comes to all those judicial candidates? I received some info in the mail about the NC state wide judges and all the spots they are running for. It doesn't say what party they are a member of. I'm not even sure if judges pick a party here in NC like in Texas. I don't really know these people on the level I know my local officials! How can I the busy citizen find out who to vote for?

Oceanchild, lawyer iMSN members, anyone? Help!

[oceanchild]

Ugh, judicial elections are so hard. We have a judicial performance commission that recommends for or against retention here - I really like that.

Here's a couple things I found courtesy of google:
http://ncvoterguide.org/ (this looks like they've compiled statements and bios from the candidates)
http://jpe.ncbar.org/ncba-judicial-e...ormation.aspx/ (this looks similar to our commission, actually... it gives you a sense of what lawyers think of the judges. There are problems with that, but I figure they're the ones who have actually seen the judges at work.)

And, hooray for informed voters!

[moonlight]

OK good! This is a good start. The paper I received in the mail also had the profile and candidate statement but I don't think it list their websites. That is a good place to start! Thank you! I'm on to read the second page you listed. If you anyone thinks of anything else I can read please let me know. It's important to me to have the right type of person in these positions and for the first time I'm going to try and figure this out as best I can.

[moonlight]

Thanks again to Julia for pointing me in the right direction yesterday. I learned so much by studying the judicial candidates yesterday.

In 2004 NC made these elections non partisan, a good thing I think. However the incumbent Supreme Court Justice seeking reelection for a 8 year term (wow, that seems long to me!) is taking money from a tea party backed super PAC. He's attended at least one Tea Party campaign type event this fall. Regardless of how anyone feels about the Tea Party, it was interesting to learn about this. I was also able to find a article written about some of his opinions in regards to some social issues regarding the law... gays adopting in NC, etc. But I don't take any of that to heart because most reporters don't understand how to properly report about the judicial branch. I even sat and watched a 45 minute judicial debate of sorts online yesterday.

So boring, but I feel so informed today!!