District Court Judge Page Vernon resigns. Who will take her place?

District Court Judge Page Vernon has resigned her seat. She was elected to the post in 2008, and would have stood for reelection in 2012.

According to the District 15B Bar listserv,  there will be special meeting of the Bar on November 9th to select three nominees to fill the vacancy. These nominees will be sent to Governor Perdue, who will make the appointment. 

Here is the entire text of the email:

Notice of Special MeetingDistrict 15B Bar A special meeting of the 15B Bar will be held November 9, 2011 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Room 5052 of the UNC School of Law in Chapel Hill. The purpose of the meeting is (1) to adopt a Bylaw amendment which adds a Section 5 to Article VII to define “mail” as “conventional surface mail or electronic mail,” and (2) to select three nominees to fill the District Court judgeship vacancy created by the resignation of the Honorable Page Vernon. No procedure for a selection process is set forth in District 15B’s current Bylaws. A Bylaw amendment adopting the model procedure recommended by the State Bar was approved at the reconvened annual meeting on September 15, 2011, but it will not go into effect until approved by the State Bar Council. Since no formal procedure is currently in effect, the Bar Officers will follow the procedures set forth in newly adopted bylaws as a guideline for this election. A copy of the Bylaw entitled “Selection of Nominees for District Court Judge” is below. Please note that all persons who wish to be considered for the vacancy must so notify President Gordon Brown in writing five days prior to the meeting. This deadline is Friday, November 4, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. Each candidate is requested to include a resume or CV. The contact information is By Post: Gordon Brown Brown & Bunch, PLLC 101 N. Columbia Street Chapel Hill, NC 27514 By Email: gbr...@brownandbunch.com Preceding the election each candidate will be given an opportunity to address the 15B Bar at a candidates’ forum. The candidates’ forum will follow this format: 1. Each candidate will be introduced by a single nominator of the candidate’s choice. 2. Each candidate may conclude with a personal statement. Time limitations on nomination and personal statements will be established once the total number of candidates is known. Due to anticipated time limitations, there will be no question and answer session at the forum. At the close of the candidates’ forum, ballots from active members of District 15B in good standing with the North Carolina State Bar will be collected and the tabulation will begin. Inactive members are not eligible to vote. The three nominees will be announced after the tabulation is concluded and certified by the Secretary to be true and correct. Unless you do not have e-mail capability, you should receive this Notice two ways: (1) by post and (2) electronically on the 15B listserve. This Notice was sent via the listserve from 15bjudicialdistrict...@main.nc.us on October 21, 2011. Please be advised that all future notices will be coming exclusively by the District 15B listserve (those for whom 15B does not have e-mail addresses will still receive notices by post). If you do not get this Notice by e-mail, please CHECK YOUR SPAM FILTER. If you do not find your electronic Notice there, please contact Katie Merritt’s legal assistant Rachel Wrightington at rwrighting...@cghp-law.com and we will help you address the problem. 15B Bar MeetingSeptember 15, 2011Amendment 2 ARTICLE XIIISelection of Nominees for District Court Judge Unless otherwise required by law, the following procedures shall be used to determine the nominees to be recommended to the Governor pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. §7A-142 for vacant district court judgeships in the judicial district.
(a) Meeting for Nominations: The nominees shall be selected by secret, written ballot of those members present at a meeting of the district bar called for this purpose. Fifteen (15) days notice of the meeting shall be given, by mail, to the last known address of each district bar member. As used in the preceding sentence, “mail” means conventional surface mail as well as electronic mail.
(b) Candidates: Persons who want to be considered for the vacancy shall notify the President in writing five (5) days prior to the meeting at which the election will be conducted.
(c) Voting: Each district bar member may vote for three candidates. Cumulative voting is prohibited.
(d) Submission to Governor: The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be the nominees to fill the vacancy on the district court and their names, and vote totals, shall be transmitted to the Governor. In the event of a tie for third place, the names of those candidates involved in the tie shall be transmitted to the Governor together with the names of the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes.

We have many qualified attorneys in Orange and Chatham counties who could take Judge Vernon's place. Who do you think should and/or will put their name forward?

Edit 10/23/2011: I heard from a friend that Judge Vernon has resigned due to health issues. My thoughts are with her and her family, and I wish her well.