The Atlantic has this interesting interview with Wallace Jefferson, who is newly retired from the Texas Supreme Court. Jefferson explains why Texas partisan judicial elections are a bad idea. He focuses on the fact that populous counties elect dozens of judges, at all levels. Then he notes the existence of the straight-ticket device, which operates to sweep judges out of office even when the voters aren’t paying any attention to the particular judicial races at all. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.
Nonpartisan Approval Voting for all elected executive officers and all judges – pending advanced Condorcet head to head math.
In 2012 in Harris County, 68% of voters selected a straight ticket; another 24% voted a straight ticket by voting for all the individual candidates of a party; about 6% skipped the judicial races, and around 2% voted for individual district judge candidates.
There are 120 judicial races available to a Harris County voter: 18 justices of the Supreme Court of Texas and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; 18 Appellate Justices (1st and 14th Circuits); 59 districts judges; 23 county judges; and 2 justices of the peace. With 6 and 4-year terms, plus special elections following vacancies, there are around 50 races on the ballot each election.