Time to change nonpartisan ballot for judges

for concealing information that voters have in all other elections: the political affiliation of the candidate. Now, what argument can the defense make as to why this ballot should not be executed and buried? The burden of proof shifts to the defense so now it’s time to hear from the chief justice, leading defender of the nonpartisan ballot.

Ladies and gentlemen, the nonpartisan ballot is not responsible for voters failing to vote; you voters are. There is plenty of information to find about judicial candidates, if you take the time to look for it. We have an exciting website with information the candidates write about themselves. Less than 1 percent of you use it. The League of Women Voters has a voters guide in 8-point type that any voter with glasses can read. The newspapers make endorsements in their editorial sections, easily found on back pages. Now, what is the reason for the nonpartisan ballot? Politics and justice don’t mix. Yes, I’m a Republican and all the other justices on the Supreme Court are, and yes, that’s how we were nominated in the first place and we get party money in every election. But we ignore that in our jobs, and you are supposed to ignore that when you vote.

You are supposed to vote on our records. Read our published decisions, they are quite good, but if you don’t it’s not our fault. Now it’s the prosecutor’s turn.

Ladies and gentlemen, the chief justice wants you to vote the way she thinks you should vote. However, voting is a highly personal choice. If you like a candidate for his or her gender, religion, or politics, for no other reason, that’s your right.

Who is entitled to control your vote by hiding a candidate’s party? That’s what the nonpartisan ballot does; it hides information that you may think is important because someone else feels you should not use it to vote. That’s not a democracy; that’s Cuba.

Let’s bury the nonpartisan ballot and show some respect for you, the voters. Call your legislators and ask if they would run on a nonpartisan ballot. Don’t they represent all of us? Then ask whose elections these are. The answer is that these are our elections. This involves our liberty, because judges are so important that every vote for a judge, for any reason, is a vote for our Rule of Law without which we would have no liberty. That’s why our vote matters — it tells everyone what we stand for.

Imagine a time when only 20 percent or fewer of us vote for judges. Will this still be America as we know it? Let’s see how the chief justice answers this question, if she will!