State Supreme Court candidate Chris Anglin will appear on the ballot as a Republican after state legislative leaders said Tuesday that they'll drop a legal effort to block it.
The issue had been in doubt because of a back-and-forth fight over state election law.
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Ordinarily, candidates have to be registered with a political party for 90 days before they file to appear on the ballot as a member of that party. Anglin switched his registration from Democrat to Republican about three weeks before filing in the state's lone Supreme Court race this year.
He took advantage of a temporary loophole the GOP legislative majority wrote into the law. The 90-day rule is tied to primaries, and the General Assembly canceled this year's judicial primaries, voiding the rule.
Republicans accused Anglin of trying to game the system and, during a recent special session, passed legislation to keep him from appearing on the ballot as a member of any political party. Anglin sued and won.
The elections committee chairmen for the House and the Senate announced Tuesday that they won't appeal that decision, freeing the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement to lock in this part of the ballot.
“While we continue to believe the lower court decisions were incorrect, ... it is important for the State Board to have the opportunity to get absentee ballot preparation back on track,” Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, and Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, said in a joint statement.
Hise and Lewis also said they were dropping any appeals over constitutional ballot language, the subject of another court fight. Gov. Roy Cooper's office has promised continued litigation on that issue, though.
The state's congressional ballot is also in question after a federal judicial panel ruled Monday that the state's congressional map is unconstitutional. The court broached the idea of redrawing those districts before the November elections or moving the elections altogether.
Anglin is one of three candidates for the one seat up this year on the state's high court. The other two are incumbent Republican Justice Barbara Jackson and Democrat Anita Earls.