Study courts
Ready for 76 contested judicial races?
Less than eight months stand between now and the general election in November, and Harris County voters will need to use every second of that time to study up on the ballot if they want to cast informed votes.
Voters will be asked to make a decisions in — by our count — 76 contested judicial races.
Ready to do your homework? At a certain point, you’re tempted to just flip a coin to choose between the candidates.
The judges and justices who hold these positions can make the difference between recovering millions or nothing, freedom and incarceration, life and death.
The ongoing bail reform lawsuit would look very different with a different set of judges.
Voters need to be sure they’re choosing the right candidates to serve behind the bench. It can be quite the challenge. Even the best connected politicos and most active attorneys have trouble keeping track of all the different positions and contenders.
Polls released by the Houston Bar Association or informed endorsement lists — such as the Houston Chronicle editorial board — help provide the best guidance. But sometimes no amount of warning or cajoling can stop a partisan wave from driving out quality judges and washing in underqualified newcomers.
Democrats or Republicans may take some joy in seeing their team win so many seats during a sweep election, but the people closest to our courts aren’t so pleased when good judges lose.
That’s why top judges, such as former Texas Supreme Court Judge Wallace Jefferson, have long advocated for a change in our selection process.
Texas will make a small step in the right direction when we get rid of straight-ticket voting for judges in 2020.
However, it doesn’t eliminate the risk that candidates with familiar names will just get an unearned boost — think Judge Scott Walker, who apparently won election in to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2016 because he shared the same name as the governor of Wisconsin.
And it is not as if the lack of partisan straightticket voting has led to better results in primary races. Longtime judge Jay Karahan lost his Republican primary race to Dan Simons, a man who has been brought before a district attorney’s disciplinary committee.
Judge Theresa Chang lost her race to Erin Swanson, the daughter of a state representative.
Harris County has reached the breaking point. No republic can function if voters are burdened with making informed selections in 76 different races. Yet again, we look to the Texas Legislature to implement a modern standard of judicial selection — one that fills our benches in professional process instead of through a coin toss.