How to figure out which judge to vote for this election

By now you all have your ballots for the mid-term election. Try not to get too excited.

There’s the big state initiatives like I-594 and I-591 – the dueling gun initiatives. There’s Initiative 1351, which would reduce the amount of students in classrooms.

Counties may have a sheriff to elect, a few congressional leaders to pick, but what seems to overrun this ballot is elections for judges.

For the initiatives and big races, we are inundated with TV and radio ads. We get fliers in the mail for those issues, but nobody seems to know much about the judges on the ballot.

Should we? Does it matter who we vote for since the positions are supposed to be non-partisan.

Steve Rovig is with the King County Bar Association. They are a volunteer organization with no agenda.

I asked him, why does our state vote for judges rather than having them appointed by the Governor?

“That’s a very big and philosophical question, why we vote for judges in Washington state,” said Rovig. “I’m always reminded of a statement made by Supreme Court Justice Steve Gonzalez that voting for judges in Washington is one of the most cherished and least exercised rights that the voters of Washington have.”

And, he’s not aware of any movement to appoint judges rather than elect them.

Looking at your ballot, some of you might know who you’re voting for, others may not take the time to learn about the judges. If that’s the case, should you just leave those races blank?

“I very much encourage voters to take just a little bit of time to become informed on the candidates because there are some real important choices to be made there and the King County Bar Association has really worked hard to make that information very accessible and easy for voters to get a hold of and give them some quick tips on candidates they want to consider,” said Rovig.

Fortunately, the King County Bar Association has an easy website to remember in order to learn about the judges up for election: votingforjudges.org.

“They can click on the candidates and can get some very quick information on the candidates. They can see the ratings that the King County Bar Association has given to the candidates and also ratings that have been given to the candidates by other bar associations,” said Rovig. “Simply by looking at that table I think voters can get a great deal of information as to who they might want to consider.”

Bottom line for Rovig: don’t waste your vote.

“I recognize that these are down ballot elections, but the role that our judges play in the lives of individual citizens and in our state and in our county is just very important and I think it’s very critical for the electorate to get involved.”

That website again is votingforjudges.org.