On February 23, the West Virginia legislature passed HB 2010, which makes elections for state judges non-partisan. It will become law if the Governor signs it.
Making judicial elections non-partisan will simplify the general election ballot. Under current law, if a qualified party doesn’t nominate anyone for a judicial post, there still must be an entry on the ballot naming that party and saying it didn’t nominate anyone. The November 2014 ballot showed such entries for both the Mountain Party and the Libertarian Party, for example. West Virginia minor parties never nominate for judicial office anyway.
In 2010, the general election ballot had one State Supreme Court race, with a Democrat running against a Republican. The same was true for 2012. There were no statewide judicial races in 2014. Thanks to Jeff Becker for this news.
Just because you make elections non-partisan, the voters for the most part know who the candidate leans to. I think in local elections non-partisan elections don’t improve the competitive races.
ALL executive and judicial offices — NONPARTISAN
using Approval Voting – Vote for 1 or more , highest win
–pending advanced Condorcet head to head math.
Judicial posts should be non-partisan if they are to be an elective office. Either way, they should be term limited also.