(WGHP) -- There will be a lot of names on the ballot you fill out during either early voting or on election day itself. Chances are, you’ll know little about more than a few of them. But some of those, like the ones elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court, can have a great effect on your life. Some states appoint their judges through either the governor or legislature. Since it drew the constitution we live under in 1868, North Carolina has elected its judges. Some fear that means judges wear the jersey of one team or the other as they hear cases, but Republican Jefferson Griffin, who is a current State Appeal Court judge running for an NC Supreme Court seat, says that’s not an issue. “That’s a policy decision. We’re all elected in North Carolina. It’s in our state constitution. Voters in 2018 rejected a constitutional amendment, which is the vehicle which would change that,” Griffin said. Griffin says the main thing that separates him from his opponent is the way he sees the job. Griffin refers to himself as “an originalist or a textualist” as opposed to some who see a “living constitution.” “As an originalist or a textualist, I look at the legal document and interpret it as it’s written under its original meaning. And so we have to sometimes do a historical perspective to find out what is its original meaning ... That is the most consistent way to interpret the law,” Griffin said. “The living document type approach to legal interpretation which says ... ‘Well, the world’s changed, so the judges should be the ones who change it' ... a more conservative jurist would say, ‘We’ll stay in our lane. Make small changes if we have to on tough issues, but it’s really the people going to the ballot box and sending their representatives to make those changes.” Griffin also touts his judicial experience as key to why he believes he would make a good NC Supreme Court justice. “Having been on the trial court bench, having practiced in our state and having served at the court of appeals since 2020. Statewide elected. How important it is to have jurists in our state who are committed to interpreting the laws as they are written, don’t go in there with any policy agenda or any politics into the court,” Griffin said. “It’s our job as jurists to find the original meaning, interpret the law and not legislate from the bench. And we’ve had a couple of stretches in the state here I’ve seen that happen: Where jurists legislate from the bench. We need jurists who are humble enough to understand legislative restraint to serve on our highest court where we’re the last interpretation of the law in our state.” See more from Jefferson Griffin in this Your Local Election Headquarters report from Bob Buckley.