With our elections impending I am doing my normal research to decide to whom my votes should go. Most of the candidates are easily researched but I am finding difficulty in doing due diligence on judges.

I know the collective here has answered many, and more difficult questions, in the past so I put it to you all; how do we research judges?

I don't want to waste my vote.

I know it isn't a much a "bitch" but I don't like being ignorant. In the past I have spoken to attorney I know and like for their opinions but I realize that isn't much by way of research.

It's hard, because the elections are non-partisan and unless the judge is controversial and there are news articles or attack ads complaining about how they handled a particular case, there really isn't much to go on. Look at their bio, if you can find one. What kind of lawyer were they before they became a judge?

In addition to that, I look at three things. First, was the judge appointed, and if so, by whom? If appointed by a tough republican like Rick Scott, that judge gets a + in their equation. The second thing to do ask any lawyers you know what they think about the judicial election. They will answer in code. You will either get something like "that person is a fine judge" or "that circuit/bench/court could use some new blood". Third, you can look at how long they have been on the bench. I don't like any judge at the elected level to be there too long, on the advice of trial lawyers I know. As I do not try cases, I don't have personal opinions about these people.

Good luck, and thanks for taking the judicial election seriously.

Another factor can be to look at who has endorsed them.

If one candidate is being endorsed by organizations that I respect, and the other solely by, well, let's just say other organizations, then that can help make the decision.

Yeah, good luck on trying to find useful information on your local judges. You might try talking to a local attorney.

What bugs me even more is trying to find out information on those running for your local school board. Talk about power. They control the content of the education and hire the Superintendent who does everything else.

Maybe someone can offer insights on this. I have tried googling these people and have come up with zilch. There ought to be law that law that requires them to declare their party affiliation and provide the voters with a statement of their intentions.

Yeah, I know....

I agree on the school board issue as well. I used to be a teacher in my area, so I do have some inside info on our school board elections.

Sadly, I'm finding that I am using FaceBook to do some information gathering. I generally avoid most social media like the plague.

It's easier in Texas, judges party affiliation noted on the ballots. I try and read the background on them, but voting Republican for me is an easy choice.

I would say a call to your local party headquarters would yield the info you want.

Generally around here the "D" after their name is a good indicator of what to avoid.
But they learned and do not generally have any party affiliation noted in their emails, advertising and flyers.

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
I would say a call to your local party headquarters would yield the info you want.

That's a good idea. I had not thought of that. <facepalm>

I look at who appointed them though it's a less useful barometer given the one party state I live in and their previous employment. Public defender or prosecutor? Personal injury attorney? Insurance defense? White shoe firm? Interest group work? Endorsements work too. It's difficult to find a lot of info. Lower court seats are more difficult than state supreme court seats. And judges rarely lose elections in CA.

When I lived in NC, the local Democratic Party would give you a list of all the people they suggested who to vote for for the upcoming election....I literally asked a guy in line for the handout as I was going inside...he kinda looked at me funny, (I’m white) but gave it to me. As soon as he walked off I turned to the other white dude(who I knew was also a republican) In line and said, it’s easy now to see who to vote against. They had done away with straight party voting..and The judges were not listed in straight party voting.

First decide what you want in a potential Judge Candidate. Then do your homework!

Some time ago, and before I moved to my present location, there was a County Judge Election.
I noticed that one of the candidates was a lawyer that I had used for matrimonial work in the past long ago.
I was extremely happy with the work he had done for me, but I also didn't want previously performed work to outweigh any present day expectations of Judge duties / questions / concerns.

Here in upstate NY, in most counties, the County Judge is "THE" person that administers pistol licenses. Usually the local Sheriff's Department or County Clerk does the administrative paperwork / background checks / fingerprints / issuing of the physical paper or plastic credit card type pistol license.

The Judge is the person that sets the scope for handgun licensing.
They decide who gets a Concealed Carry license, or not.

The County I lived in had several Judges that in the course of their careers, had categorically denied Concealed Carry Licenses. (for mere citizens) All that was allowed for us peons was "Target Shooting & Hunting" pistol licenses, and "Premises" pistol licenses.
So you could target shoot, hunt, and possess a handgun in your business. No concealed carry whatsoever.
One Judge back in the 1960's even had an arbitrary 5 pistol limit. If you owned 5 handguns and wanted another, you had to sell one first before acquiring the new one you wanted.

Note that the above Administrative restrictions were all imposed by the issuing officer (The County Judge) and were not codified in State Law. These administrative restrictions have been appealed to NY higher courts countless times before and the result was nothing. The higher courts agreed, the County Judge could add the administrative restrictions as He/She saw fit. And they often did as described above. If you did conceal carry and got caught doing so, you were not breaking any state laws, but you were violating the Judge's administrative conditions. This would get your pistol license revoked. Instantly!

The problem for me was that the Rich and Politically connected received their Concealed Carry licenses.
Doctors, Pharmacists, Lawyers, and the politically connected. It really rubbed me the wrong way.

So back to the original topic of this thread.
Find out who is on the election committee for that Judge / Lawyer / person seeking (Judge) election / reelection.
Send them emails. Google who they are. Call them on the phone.
I emailed the guy seeking the County Judge position and got the runaround.
He told me he couldn't discuss things he "Might" have to potentially rule on. (prohibited by law)
Because getting concealed carry was very important to me in my old county, I pressed the issue and talked on the phone with every person on the election committee.

It came out in those discussions with the election committee members that the Judge candidate firmly believed in self defense. While he wasn't a shooter, or hunter, or fisherman, because his Father didn't do that with him when he was a child, he DID teach battered women in domestic violence shelters how to protect themselves with hand-to-hand combat training. I thought to myself, THIS is the guy I want as my County Judge. He believes in self defense.

I spent time, money, & effort helping to get that Judge Candidate elected.
And he did win the election.

Within 6 months, a process was put into place in my old county for issuing concealed carry licenses.
You still had a few hoops to jump through, but if you followed the process, it was easily done.
The Judge also greatly simplified the process for acquiring new handguns. Easily done in a few hours now.
He also didn't give a damn about how many handguns you owned. Wow, I guess I need another safe...

The Sheriff's Department in my old county became so overwhelmed with the crushing load of applications for concealed carry that they hired some additional civilians for administrative paperwork.
Population of my old county in 2019 was ~ 190,000 or so.

When I moved to my new County, they issued concealed carry instantly due to having concealed carry before.
Plus my new county is considerably less restrictive than my prior county.

Here in NY, a concealed carry pistol license issued in any upstate county (any county other than the five that make up New York City, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island) is valid for the entire state, except in NYC.

So the Moral to the story is: (actually two of them) Don't go to New York City and talk to the people on the Judge Candidates election committee.
They know them better than anybody else.

I ended up speaking with attorneys I knew (and liked) regarding their views on the candidates for Judges and got some good information.

A good clue is looking at campaign contributions by attorneys. The really smart lawyers give to both but a little more to the one they favor.

I don't know if they'll be sending one out this election cycle, but in previous years Alaska sent out a booklet with the various candidates backgrounds, education, etc. For judges, there was a numerical rating provided by various stakeholder groups: Defense and prosecution attorneys, social workers, police that testified in the judges' court, etc. Areas covered were things like "treats people with respect", bearing, knowledge of the law, impartiality... Stuff like that. It at least gave you something to go on.

Glad you were able to get some info from your attorney friends.

At my local election site, there is always a person on hand from the local Republican party giving out info. They always have a sample ballot of everyone they are endorsing. I know several of the people that are part of the local republican party and I trust their opinions in this matter.

I hope we made wise choices.

Occasionally, we get a nasty revelation long after
supporting a certain person.

Not local, but the Justice John Glover Roberts Jr. experience is a good example.

In collecting all the information I could find there were still two races that came down to my interpretation of each candidate.

My local party headquarters (Actually both since I figured one would be a great guide for whom NOT to vote for) did not have any information I could find.

Weird, right?