News

Announcing NCAJ Judicial Endorsement Microsite and Member Toolkit

July 28, 2020

We are thrilled to announce the official launch of our advocacy and awareness campaign for Election 2020: The Vote’s in Your Court, North Carolina.

As part of the launch of the campaign, NCAJ has released a microsite — VoteYourCourtNC.org — to promote our slate of endorsements for the state’s 2020 appellate judicial elections to be held Nov. 3.

The microsite for this new judicial advocacy campaign is designed not only to promote NCAJ’s endorsements but also to educate voters about why judicial elections are so important. At stake in the upcoming elections are three seats on the Supreme Court of North Carolina and five seats on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

With your help, we can ensure North Carolina voters will elect candidates who will advance the mission of NCAJ and the cause of our clients.

The website is designed for ease of sharing via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and even e-mail. Throughout the site you will see clickable icons that allow you to share:

  • Individual candidate endorsements
  • The full slate of nine NCAJ-endorsed candidates
  • Why judges matter
  • The entire VoteYourCourtNC.org website

From any given section of the website, you can share the content simply by clicking on the sharing icon under Share This for the platform you would like to use. You may choose to add your own message, or you may simply share only the content from the site.

Members-Only Toolkit

We are counting on our members to use this new website, VoteYourCourtNC.org, to share NCAJ’s endorsements for open seats on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court with your networks. We’re also happy to announce the creation of a members only toolkit for promoting the site to family, friends, contacts and clients, which can be found on the NCAJ main website.

Track Your Impact

The NCAJ Marketing & Communications team will be regularly updating members on the performance of the site, which has been outfitted with the most up-to-date analytics tracking by Carrboro-based digital media firm New Media Campaigns, who also designed and built the site on WordPress. We’d also like to recognize Nancy Kinnally of Relatable Communications Group for her tremendous leadership in all aspects of this project from concept to content to launch.

About the Process and Endorsements

Before choosing which candidates to endorse, NCAJ first invited all potential candidates to be interviewed by a panel of NCAJ Political Action Committee trustees. NCAJ’s members also had the opportunity to provide feedback. NCAJ PAC trustees then reviewed the candidates’ resumes and examples of their work. Finally, the 25 trustees of the NCAJ PAC had the opportunity to meet and discuss the candidates prior to selecting this bipartisan slate of endorsements.

The carefully considered endorsements include a dual endorsement for Court of Appeals Seat 13. After extensive review, NCAJ PAC members determined that both candidates are focused on protecting citizens, although voters may only vote for one.

The candidates selected by NCAJ include:

Supreme Court, Seat 1: Cheri Beasley

Supreme Court, Seat 2: Lucy Inman

Supreme Court, Seat 4: Mark Davis

Court of Appeals, Seat 4: Patricia Shields

Court of Appeals, Seat 5: Lora Cubbage

Court of Appeals, Seat 6: Chris Dillon

Court of Appeals, Seat 7: Jeff Carpenter

Court of Appeals, Seat 13: Chris Brook or Jefferson Griffin