Retention of Judges?

[femmocrat]

Just got our mail-in ballots. I did not know about the questions for Retention of Judges for Superior and Commonwealth Courts.

Their names are: John T. Bender and Mary Jane Bowes for Superior Court.
Also, Anne Covey and Renee Cohn Jubelirer for Commonwealth Court.

Political parties are not listed.

Any advice will be appreciated! (I understand about the other judges who are running.)

Thank you so much!!

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Quite frankly, I just don't vote for judges. For every court it's "Vote...

for three... " and they are all cross-endorsed anyway.

[femmocrat]

2. I'm tempted to leave that page blank.

They could have done a better job informing us!

The other judges (Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth) are listed by party. I did research those candidates.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Go ahead-- leave it blank. No point in voting without information...

And it's not really the most important vote out there.

[FakeNoose]

4. My solution may or may not work for you :-)

I went on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website and I searched out the names of the judges for recent news stories.

Most had news items in the last year or so, where the paper tells about the judges' decisions on particular cases. It doesn't list their party affiliation, because judges are supposed to be unaffiliated. The thing is that in Allegheny County the chances are pretty good that the Democratic Party does endorse them. (However party endorsement of judges isn't really a thing.)

If the judges' recent decisions are something that I agreed with, and if there are no adverse items in the paper about them, I voted to keep the judge for another term.

Other than that, I have no answer and I realize this isn't much help for voters outside of our area.

[femmocrat]

5. Thank you!

That’s a lot of research! Wow!

[Number9Dream]

6. You might also see my thread on this from Oct. 6

All those judges are Republicans. I voted No for each and every one... just my opinion.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/107415307

[femmocrat]

7. Thank you.

It’s amazing how much research DUrs have put into this question! You guys and gals are the best resource!

[RandomNumbers]

9. Your local Democratic committee should also be able to help

Generally I try to research whether they have any notable decisions, and how they ruled. Also anything they've said about judicial philosophy.

For example, you probably already know to vote against Kevin Brobson. (Supreme Court election, not retention. Vote for Maria.)

Either way, you might find his Ballotpedia page interesting. Scroll to the bottom to the section "Noteworthy cases". Unfortunately not all judges have good info there, but some do.


https://ballotpedia.org/Kevin_Brobson

[RandomNumbers]

8. Ballotpedia is a good site to find that info

https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page

you may have to put in your voting district.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

10. Good ballot advice source for PA Dems

Get to know all the races and PA Democratic candidates on your ballot in 2021! Enter the address you’re registered to vote at below to generate your custom voting guide, or keep reading to meet Democrats’ statewide judicial candidates.

https://www.padems.com/candidates