There is only one Judge Martin on the statewide ballot this year.

That may come as a relief to voters who were confused by 1998’s offering of both a Mark Martin and a Jim Martin —neither of whom was a race car driver or a former governor.

To Judge John C. Martin of Raleigh, a Democrat running for re-election to the state Court of Appeals, the absence of other Martins on the ballot may simplify the campaign.

But it’s still hard to get voters interested in the Court of Appeals race, he says. He hopes they’ll look at each candidate’s qualifications and experience.

“It’s not an entry level job,” Martin says.

Martin, 56, has served on the Court of Appeals in two separate stints, 1985-1988 and 1993 to the present. Before that, he served as a Superior Court judge for seven years. He worked in private law practices from 1969 to 1977 and from 1988 to 1992.

Martin is running against Republican Wendy M. Enochs, a 34-year-old district court judge in Greensboro.

The Court of Appeals now consists of 12 judges. The General Assembly recently approved adding three more, who will be appointed in December.

The court divides into panels of three to review cases.

In his years on the state appeals court, Martin has written over 1,100 cases and ruled on many others. Among them:

• He wrote the opinion that upheld the drug tax the state imposes on people convicted of drug crimes, saying it was not double jeopardy.
• Martin was on the panel that decided the case between the News & Observer and Raleigh City Council members who the N&Oclaimed met illegally at a member’s home, ostensibly to watch a football game but also to discuss a sports arena deal. The court enjoined the council members from meeting privately and ordered them to open the contents of the meeting.
• He wrote an opinion upholding Salisbury’s sign ordinance.
• He was a member of the panel that overturned former Rowan-Salisbury teacher Deborah Brogden’s 20- to 24-month sentence for shooting at Assistant Superintendent Danny Thomas. The panel said the judge in the case erred by amending the jury verdict. The jury had found Brogden guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a government official; with the jury’s OK the judge changed that to guilty of assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, a felony. The Court of Appeals said that was a mistake.
• Martin was part of the panel that upheld former Salisbury Police Officer L.C. Underwood’s first-degree murder and kidnapping conviction in the 1994 death of Viktor Gunnersson.

Born in Durham, Martin earned undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University. He served in the Army from 1967 to 1969 as a first lieutenant in the Military Police Corps.

Now a resident of Raleigh, he is married to the former Margaret Rand Short, who served several years ago as city attorney for Salisbury.