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The attorneys of the 30th Judicial District met Tuesday, April 21, 2009 to vote on a replacement for the District Court Judgeship position recently created when Judge Brad Letts was appointed to the Superior Court bench.  Waynesville attorney Steve Ellis received twice the votes of his closest competitors, but the top three finishers are all forwarded to the Governor who must select one of the nominees.  Second place finisher was Danya Vanhook of Jackson County, and third place was Waynesville attorney Ira Dove.  Allowing the local attorneys to nominate their choice of replacements is a very effective way in my opinion to insure that only qualified applicants are forwarded to the Governor.  In North Carolina we otherwise have an elective process for the routine selection of judges.  There is currently an effort underweigh, however, with submitting a constitutional amendment to the voters to create a merit based system for both trial and appellate judges.