An opportunity approaches … voting for judges
Authored: October 30th, 2008 @ 6:42 AM
The upcoming election has an unusual twist to it in that we will be voting for judges. Doug Jones summed up the urgency of this low-visibility issue nicely in a letter that he submitted to the editors of a local paper.
The other item of note is the vote for Minnesota Appellate Court Judge. Never since 1888 have Minnesota voters elected a judge to the Appellate Court; they have all been appointed. In 2002 the US Supreme Court ruled Minnesota rules not allowing judicial candidates to campaign were unconstitutional. But a faction in the Minnesota Bar Association, some MN Supreme Court Justices and the Quie Commission are pushing to change the constitution to take away voter choice for judges forever more.
Then, Janalee Cooper put in the good word on one of the candidates in a letter to the paper, the Northfield News.
On Nov. 4 we have an opportunity to elect 18 judges across the state. The one race I want to bring to your attention is the Minnesota Court of Appeals race that has Dan Griffith, a practicing, prosecuting attorney from International Falls, Minn., running against an incumbent.
Dan ran in 2006 for this same position and garnered 44 percent of the statewide vote on a $5,000 budget and a few hundred signs. He firmly believes that we, the citizens, should have the “say so” on who is guiding our legal system, rather than following the old system for selecting judges that biased in favor of incumbent judges. It has been difficult to make informed decisions because of the protections offered to the incumbent:
This may be your only chance to directly vote for judges as there is a move afoot to implement Missouri rules voting, in which case your vote would only be whether to retain sitting judges. Replacements would be appointed. In a republic (which we are) this proposed appointment process has some merit, but the debate is still ongoing as it does place more control in the hands of elected officials. This works well when you agree with them, not so well when you don’t. In any case, this may be your best opportunity, and it is consistent with the state constitution and we should exercise this right while we have it.