The Dallas Morning News has this editorial, advocating that Texas give up the practice of electing judges with partisan elections. The editorial also hints that the straight-ticket device (by which voters can vote for all partisan offices without even looking at the list of candidates) is not a good idea.
Nonpartisan Approval Voting for all elected executive and judicial offices — pending major education about head to head math.
Keep the straight ticket device. It encourages seniors to get out and vote because it makes it easier for them.
There were a several bills that were proposed in the last legislature. Some would have made judges non-elected, or at least a hybrid system. Others would have made judges non-partisan, or at least not subject to straight ticket voting. And others would have eliminated the straight ticket completely.
Some old timers recalled how they had been taught that you should go ahead and mark all races, even if you voted a straight ticket (in Texas, you may override a straight ticket vote on individual races) calling it an “emphasis vote” or a “make sure” vote, and then turned right around and advocated retaining the straight ticket.
Others made the argument that some voters might carefully consider which candidate to vote for in each race, and then notice that they just happened to all be from one party, and shouldn’t careful and thoughtful voters such as them have the same efficiency as the careless and thoughtless?
Others argued that there wouldn’t be enough voting machines if voters had to vote for each office and some might be discouraged by lines. But this also means that voters currently could be being pressured into voting a straight-ticket voting, and can be readily identified as voting a straight ticket.