sre: #171 fern01

Some judges get elected - just like presidents - that might be the answer.

Illinois has elected judges — and it’s a nightmare. If there is a vacancy, it’s a normal election, but sitting judges run against their record instead of an opponent. There are about 9 or 10 different legal organizations that rate the judges and I try to do my best to read the reviews from these groups before settling on a vote. Actually, this is the only situation where I occasionally vote Republican.

Sitting judges who are deemed totally incompetent routinely win reelection.

Very few people have the knowledge to make an independent assessment and most people don’t bother to make any serious effort to read the evaluations. Instead many voters decide to vote for all female names or all names from a particular nationality or for the general election, vote for the candidate from their party.