On January 12, attorneys for North Carolina government filed a brief in support of the law that abolished judicial primaries for the 2018 election. The Democratic Party had filed a lawsuit late last year, arguing that abolishing judicial primaries violates the U.S. Constitution. The case is North Carolina Democratic Party v Berger, m.d., 1:17cv-1113.
See BAN story Dec 16, 2017
The brief notes that even with the elimination of segregated partisan primaries that political parties can still:
(a) bring people together to develop public policies and positions favorable to their members and their counties;
(b) identify candidates who will support and defend those policies and positions;
(c) persuade voters to cast their ballots for those candidates; and
(d) provide grassroots energy and organization for Democrats in their respective counties.