Judge races top ballot in off-year election for Pa.

HARRISBURG » Pennsylvania voters will reshape the state’s appeals courts this week, consider a change to the state constitution and decide races for mayor, district attorney and other local contests.

It’s considered an offyear election for the state’s 8.4 million voters, including 4 million Democrats and 3.2 million Republicans, so turnout is likely to be low.

The biggest statewide race is for the state Supreme Court, where an appointed justice, Republican Sallie Mundy, wants to keep her seat for a full 10year term. Her opponent is Allegheny County Judge Dwayne Woodruff, a former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive star who currently handles family court matters.

Two years ago, Democrats swept three open seats on the high court, so the Mundy-Woodruff race will determine if the partisan breakdown will remain 5-2 or move to 6-1. That could prove critical in the coming years, as the court is likely to name the fifth and deciding member of the group that will redraw legislative district lines following the 2020 census.

Mundy and Woodruff were studiously collegial during a recent debate in Harrisburg, although they took different positions on the existing policy that allows judges to accept gifts. Woodruff wants a blanket ban on gifts, while Mundy supports limiting them, but would let judges continue to accept free travel and costs to attend bar association conferences.

More recently, Woodruff has objected strenuously to a Republican Party mailer that asks people to “vote for judges who share our values and stand for our flag.” Woodruff’s son is a Marine Corps officer.

The statewide ballot Tuesday also includes retention votes for two justices, up-or-down votes on whether Republican Chief Justice Tom Saylor and Democratic Justice Debra Todd should get new 10year terms. Judges and justices nearly always are retained in Pennsylvania.

There are also contested races for four open seats on the state’s Superior Court, an intermediate appeals court that handles criminal, civil and family court appeals from counties. One Superior Court judge also has a retention election. On Commonwealth Court, voters will elect two new judges.