Backtalk: The Indy has missed on its judicial endorsements in Wake County

In our paper two weeks ago, along with our voter guide and more elections coverage, we published our 2024 primary endorsements for all the local races that will appear on voters ballots. (Please note: we’re no longer endorsing in statewide, congressional, or national elections). Our readers had plenty of thoughts:

From JEREMY BORDEN, via X (Twitter): 

The @indyweek endorsement of Mike Woodard reminds me of the time a newspaper I was working for endorsed an otherwise unqualified felon because at least he understood government’s problems “from the inside.” #ncpol

From reader and former Wake county commissioner JOHN BURNS, via email:

The Indy has missed on its judicial endorsements in Wake County. In failing to endorse current District Court Judge Anna Worley, the Indy made the absurd statement that  “in a court that often feels stagnant, we’re in favor of change.”

The rest of the endorsements – where Indy chooses among various attorneys whose full experience is in criminal law – reveal why such a perspective is faulty. Judge Worley is a certified family law expert currently sitting on the District Court Bench, the court where all family court matters are decided. She is, to my knowledge, the only such certified expert on the Wake County District Court. She is certainly the only one in the primary.  Children and families are her calling, her background, and her expertise.

Changing for change’s sake in this office discards valuable experience and a necessary focus on children and families in this office. 

Anna Worley is a superb judge with a record of working for he safety and benefit of the children who find themselves unwillingly drawn into the court system. She deserves reelection.

From reader LIZZIE ADAIR, via email: 

I have searched publicly available information high and low for information on Dr. [Jennifer] Moore.  There is little to no information available.  Her website is a template with minimal information and the email address does not work.  Her website prior to the current one was also a template with stock photos and minimal information.  Her attendance at OC School Board meetings is not stellar.  Her responses on publicly available candidate questionnaires have the majority of the answers done by AI (not human!).  There is little to no publicly available information on her current or former employment, or her education.  Dr. Moore was also uncomfortable with answering questions at the Chamber/Kiwanis Forum. 

Ms. Padilla is also a conundrum from an endorsement standpoint.  She has no connection to Orange County schools, her children go to Durham schools, and in a recent forum when asked why she was running, she stated “Why not?”

How can your staff make endorsements on one candidate that has such poor publicly available information, poor performance as a Board Member, and has difficulty answering the public’s questions; and another new candidate that has no background or data on her involvement in Orange County schools?

I believe transparency in your process, and disclosure of the material you review, is needed to help your readers feel more confident in the endorsements you make.  Disclosure of the members of your advisory board would also go a long way to increasing the public’s confidence in your endorsements.  I hope you can publish information that will help support your endorsement choices, as on the surface, the choices are confusing and lacking.

We published a story by our partners at the 9th Street Journal on election changes in North Carolina that will impact the primary. Web reader BOB WARREN sent us the following message via email:

…this is one of the few articles I have seen that calls out the important (and counter-intuitive) change in the deadline for absentee ballots to be received.  I hope the INDY will continue to highlight this change.

I did not see any discussion of the these issues of importance to visually impaired voters:

1) See Option 3 on the NC Absentee ballot portal, intended for visually impaired voters to request to vote completely online (request, vote, and submit ballot). See https://votebymail.ncsbe.gov/app/home (I actually did not see any discussion of this portal – perhaps for another article.)

2) If you request the right to vote online when registering for an absentee ballot, there is a hard to find option to request an absentee ballot for all elections in 2024 (primary, second primary if needed, general election).

3) If you choose to vote online, there is an option to indicate that you do not have access to a printer/copier/scanner to provide for the voter ID.  Otherwise people have to somehow create an electronic version of their ID and upload it.

4) While not applicable this year, the online ballot is typically done on a computer or tablet where trying to sign with one’s finger will be especially problematic for someone who cannot see. This may pose real problems when/if the signature validation becomes a requirement.

5) Some counties (Wake for sure) have changed the technology used as the “ballot marking machine” that each polling place is required to provide to people with various disabilities.  From personal experience, poll workers do not always have a good grasp on how to set up these machines properly and have trouble helping people to use them. Some people who have used older ballot marking machines in the past may have problems with the new machines.

We are republishing our voting guide and endorsements, alongside reporting on Durham’s Board of County Commissioners’ races, and Wake County District Court. We’ll have even more reporting online ahead of Election Day. Check out our Durham, Wake, and Orange County candidate questionnaires and watch for the launch of our live blog for coverage of early voting and election night.

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