The filing period for judicial elections in North Carolina begins at noon June 18 and concludes at noon June 29.

The Superior Court (2^nd Judicial District) seat held by Judge Wayland Sermons Jr. is available this election cycle, as are two of the four District Court judgeships in the 2^nd Judicial District. Superior Court judges serve eight-year terms. District Court judges serve four-year terms. The district includes Beaufort, Martin, Washington, Hyde and Tyrrell counties.

Sermons had indicated he would seek re-election.

One seat on the N.C. Supreme Court is available this election cycle, which concludes with the Nov. 6 general election. That seat is currently occupied by Barbara Jackson, a Republican and associate justice on the seven-member high court.

Three seats on the 15-member N.C. Court of Appeals are available this year. Those seats are currently held by judges Ann Marie Calabria, Rick Elmore and John S. Arrowood. Calabria is not seeking re-election. Attorney Toby Hampton, a Democrat, and Wake County District Court Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican, have said they will seek the Calabria seat.

Elmore is not seeking a third term. Attorney Allegra Collins, a Democrat, is seeking the Elmore seat.

Arrowood, appointed to the court in 2017 to fill the vacancy created by Judge Douglas McCullough’s resignation, is seeking a full term on the court. N.C. Superior Court Judge Andrew Heath, a Republican who served as budget director for former Gov. Pat McCrory, is seeking the Arrowood seat.

Terms for seats on each court are eight years. The elections will be partisan for the first time since the 2002 elections.

On Feb. 9 month, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an order that candidates for the N.C. Supreme Court and N.C. Court of Appeals would not file for election during the February filing period for the May 8 primary. As a result of that order, primaries for judicial offices in 2018 were scrapped. The court overturned a lower court’s order that had set the filing period for appellate-court candidates during the February filing period.

In another election-related item, two seats on the three-member Beaufort County Soil and Water Conservation Board are available this election cycle. The filing period for the election runs from June 11 to July 6.