Judge issues injunction, delays ballot printing over Supreme Court race

Chris Anglin and Rebecca Edwards switched their party registrations shortly before filing for office, missing a legal deadline.

But that deadline didn't exist when they filed for office. The legislature's Republican majority put it back in after the fact, arguing that Anglin, a Democrat before the switch, was trying to game the system by appearing on the ballot as a Republican.

Attorneys for Anglin, who's running for the state Supreme Court, and Edwards, who's seeking a Wake County District Court seat, argued Monday that the General Assembly unfairly changed the rules in the middle of the game. Anglin's attorney compared it to Calvinball, the mythical game made up by the young Calvin in the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes."

If Calvin can't win at Calvinball, he simply changes the rules, attorney John Burns said.

Superior Court Judge Rebecca Holt decided Monday that Anglin and Edwards demonstrated "a likelihood of prevailing on the merits" in their case against the General Assembly and that allowing ballots to be printed without the party designations would do them irreparable harm. Attorneys for legislative leaders can appeal Holt's injunctions, and they are expected to do so, though lead counsel for their side declined to predict the future after Monday's proceedings.

Anglin changed his party affiliation to Republican about three weeks before filing to run for the Supreme Court. He became the third candidate in that race, which pits incumbent Republican Justice Barbara Jackson against Democrat Anita Earls.

Republicans accused Anglin of trying to split the Republican vote, giving Earls an advantage. Anglin has said he's in the race to win it and that he wants to give "constitutional Republicans" a horse to back. But his attorney is a Democrat on the Wake County Board of Commissioners who has endorsed Earls. Anglin's campaign consultant is a well-known Democrat as well.

Anglin definitely wouldn't have been able to run as a Republican under old rules, which required candidates to be members of a party for at least 90 days before filing. But those rules have been tied to primaries in North Carolina. The GOP majority voted in recent years to make judicial races partisan affairs, then voted late last year to do away with the 2018 judicial primaries, which did away with the 90-day rule as well.

Instead, people would self-identify on the ballot, able to run with whatever party banner they chose at filing time.

At the time, Democrats accused Republicans of trying to strengthen Jackson's advantage as the incumbent, saying the canceled primaries might draw a number of Democratic challengers. That didn't happen, although Republican operatives did sent out mailers purportedly seeking Democrats to join the race.

Anglin has said he would leave the race if he's not listed as a Republican. Both he and Edwards have argued that they have little chance of winning a partisan race without attachment to one of the major political parties.

Edwards is one of five candidates running for judge in Wake County District 10D Seat 2. She was a Republican before switching to the Democratic Party in May, a change she later said more accurately reflects her politics, given that she voted for Democrats in 2016. Her candidacy appears to have been caught up in the fight over Anglin.