JP Election Brief: Don't discount the primaries! Many races already concluded

The JP Election Brief
Pulling back the curtain on the drama of judicial elections
In this issue...
Election news from: Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Kentucky, Wyoming, Arkansas

May 22, 2014

by: State Courts Staff

The coming weeks bring a flurry of state primaries, and a few more states have filing deadlines, too. Results keep rolling in, along with reports from states around the country. Here are a few things we're looking at this week. Thanks to a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court, the state maintains its reputation for having the nation's strictest voter ID law. Retention elections give voters a chance to speak out about a judge's job performance. Learn how the process works in Wyoming. A few Texas candidates have one last chance to end up on the ballot in the fall. Find out about the state's runoff elections. Incumbents reigned supreme in Oregon and Kentucky as voters showed their confidence in the state's current judges. Now that the primaries are over, there are just a few races left to be decided in the fall. A judicial candidate in Georgia is crying foul over an incident involving an absentee ballot. Did a critical ad tip the balance in a close race for a seat on the Arkansas State Supreme Court?

Important dates: Primary runoff election: 5/27: Texas Primary elections: 6/3: Alabama, California, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota Filing deadlines: 5/28: Arizona 5/30: Wyoming 6/1: Kansas

Early voting begins for Texas runoff election

Texas:

In less than a week, Republicans and Democrats across Texas will finally finish selecting the remaining judicial candidates to compete in the general election this fall. The state’s March 4 primaries yielded many undecided races in which no candidate received over 50 percent of the vote, a situation that sometimes arises when more than two candidates compete for a seat. Per Texas Election Code, the top two candidates in such a race must compete in a runoff election like the one occurring Tuesday, May 27.

Early voting for the runoff began on Monday, May 19 and will continue through Friday, May 23. According to the Dallas News, votes cast early for this race will make up half of the overall totals—such that when the polls open on Tuesday, it's likely that most of the races will already be settled.

Republican political consultant Vinny Minchillo noted, "It's important to turn your vote out early. This election will be over after the first week of early voting."

He went on to point out that few candidates will want to spend time courting new voters for this runoff, asserting his belief that the "frequent, reliable voter is going to [decide this race]. The casual voter is not coming out." Most candidates have been targeting residents who have demonstrated reliability by casting their votes in the last three or four elections.

In Texas, primaries and runoffs are nominally "closed" elections (requiring that voters declare a party affiliation in advance in order to participate), but functionally "open"; that is, any registered voter may vote in any single party's primary if they have not voted in the primary of another party. The elections are closed, however, in that voters may not participate in the proceedings (a runoff primary or a convention) of another party thereafter.

Visit the Texas 2014 runoff page to view the candidates participating in this runoff.

Oregon elects two new judges as incumbents cruise to victory

Oregon:

The state's primary, on May 20, 2014, marked the end of most of the state's judicial races, since candidates who received over 50% of the votes were elected without having to run in the general election. Only two races are still undecided. Additionally, all but 5 of the 67 total seats up for election were uncontested. The uncontested seats are held by incumbents who will go on to new terms.

Two non-incumbent winners emerged from the primary as well.

• Randy Miller edged out Thomas Spear and Steven Kurzer with 58.7% of the vote, earning a seat as a circuit court judge in the 11th Judicial District (Deschutes County).
• Ladd Wiles defeated Mark Lawrence with 65.1% of the vote, winning a circuit court seat in the 25th Judicial District (Yamhill County).

Two races must be decided in the November general election, because none of the candidates in either race were able to obtain over 50% of the primary votes. For circuit judge of the 19th Judicial District, Cathleen Callahan poses a threat to incumbent Judge Jean Marie Martwick. In the primary, Callahan was only about one percentage point behind Martwick. She received 36.4% of the votes, while Martwick took 37.7%. The third candidate, Jason Heym, was eliminated from the race following the primary.

The second race to be decided in November is for circuit judge of the 1st Judicial District. The candidates are Judge J. Adam Peterson, the incumbent, and David Hoppe. William Francis was eliminated from the race.

Judicial candidate cries foul over absentee ballot

Georgia:

Every Thursday, Judgepedia's State Courts Staff highlights interesting events in the world of judicial elections across the nation. Make sure to use Judgepedia's Election Central the rest of the week as a hub for all your judicial election needs.

Adam S. Poppell, III, of Georgia's McIntosh County State Court, has accused his opponent, sitting judge C. Jean Bolin, of election law violations. Poppell has made a formal request for a warrant against Bolin and a woman working on her campaign, Donna R. Caldwell.

Specifically, Poppell claimed in his letter requesting a warrant that Bolin and Caldwell went to the home of Effie Young with an absentee ballot, and Caldwell allegedly assisted her with completing her ballot. However, Caldwell failed to note on the ballot that she had provided assistance, as required under state law. After the ballot was completed, Caldwell allegedly sealed it, without showing the contents to Young. Poppell claims, Young "repeatedly told Ms. Caldwell that she wished to vote for me." The information regarding the activities of Bolin and Caldwell was discovered by Poppell’s mother after she called Young to see if she had voted. Young had been ill and requested an absentee ballot. Poppell reported the incident to the McIntosh County Board of Elections, who looked into the matter and then voided Young’s ballot.

Bolin was appointed to the bench by Governor Nathan Deal in 2013, after the retirement of Dale Jenkins. This is the first time she has run for re-election. According to an article in the Florida Times Union, Poppell had hoped to be appointed to the position instead.

Finding a judge to preside over the warrant hearing has been a challenge, so the case will not be able to be heard until after the election. Teresa K. Jennings is the magistrate judge for the county, but she and the assistant magistrates have recused themselves from hearing the case. Instead, a Chatham County judge will be appointed to decide on the matter.

Sparse voter turnout in Jefferson County as winners move on

Kentucky:

For the May 20 primaries, voter turnout in Jefferson County, Kentucky’s most populous county, was reported at a little less than 20%. Most voters largely chose to cast their votes in favor of the county’s incumbent judges.

The three most contested races were those for the judgeships in Division 1, 2 and 12 of the 30th District Court. In the race for Division 1, incumbent Annette Karem beat out her two opponents Brendan Joseph McLeod and Nichole Taylor Compton, garnering a wide majority of the votes. She will compete against second place finisher, Compton, a practicing attorney and motivational speaker, in the November general election. In Division 12, James Michael Green, a former judge who previously served 13 years in the contested seat, finished ahead of the incumbent Eric Haner. They both defeated their third opponent, Charles J. Adkins and will face off again in November. Three attorneys vied for Division 2, a seat being vacated by Judge Ann Bailey Smith, who withdrew from the race early on. Candidates Amber B. Wolf and Joseph P. Schneider defeated Derwin L. Webb for spots on the November ballot.

Incumbent judges were less prominent in the races for seats on the Jefferson County Family Court. A number of new candidates vied for six of the ten seats up for election. In Division I, Angela Johnson, a prosecutor, finished with the most votes, followed by family law attorney Lauren Adams Ogden. Tara Hagerty and Stuart A. Scherer move on to compete for the Division 5 seat in November. In Division 6, long-time family law attorneys, A. Christine Ward and Stephanie L. Morgan-White, will move on to compete in the general election. Former prosecutor, Denise Brown, as well as, Dennis Burke, an attorney and child advocate, took first and second place in the primary for the Division 7 seat. In Division 8, incumbent Deana McDonald won by a large margin. She moves ahead with second place finisher, Mark Hyatt Gaston Sr.

Voters say if Wyoming's judges get to stay

Wyoming:

All judges in Wyoming are chosen using a assisted appointment method of judicial selection. The state’s system does not require judges to compete against other candidates for re-election, but voters are allowed to vote either "yes" or "no" to say whether a judge may serve another term on the court. Judges do not serve a full term after their initial appointment. They must face a retention election after serving at least one year on the bench. Five judges have been appointed in the past two years and will appear on the ballot for a retention vote for the first time, including: Steven K. Sharpe, Richard Lavery, William Edelman, Thomas W. Rumpke and Dan Forgey.

After their first retention election, a judge must run in a retention election during the year their term expires, to continue serving on the court. Judges filing to renew their terms have a longer window to file for candidacy than those running for non-judicial offices. The filing window for most candidates this year is between May 15 and May 30, but the deadline for judges to file is not until August 2. Although the deadline for current judges is still a few months away, a preliminary list is already available on the Wyoming Secretary of State’s website. Twenty-one judges have filed for retention so far, including Justice James Burke of the Wyoming Supreme Court, who has held his seat since 2005. Nine district court judges and eleven circuit court judges have filed for retention as well.

Arkansas Supreme Court still considering state's voter ID law

Arkansas: The Arkansas Supreme Court handed down a ruling of national significance last week. The court overturned a decision issued by the Sixth Circuit regarding the state’s voter ID law.

As we wrote in the May 8 edition of the Election Brief, Pulaski County Judge Tim Fox issued a decision to overturn the state's voter ID law after finding it was unconstitutional. His ruling came just prior to the state’s primary and nonpartisan judicial elections, which were held on Tuesday, May 20. Although Fox found the law to be unconstitutional, he did not block the enforcement of it in the state’s primary. As a result, voters were still required to bring government-issued photo identification with them when they cast their ballots on Tuesday.

In a 5-2 ruling on May 14, however, the Arkansas Supreme Court vacated a portion of Fox's decision. The high court found Fox had no authority to determine the constitutionality of the state’s voter ID law. Justice Paul Danielson wrote that in the case before Fox a request was never made to strike down the law. However, the court upheld a portion of the decision concerning absentee ballots. The high court agreed that the state’s Board of Election Commissioners had no authority to give voters extra time to produce identification so their votes could be counted. Fox also found the voter ID law was unconstitutional in another case that is being appealed to the supreme court. The court did not decide whether the law is unconstitutional or not.

The state's voter ID law is one of the strictest in the U.S. Only seven other states have laws restricting voters from casting a ballot without presenting photo identification. Despite concerns about the law, a spokeswoman for Arkansas Secretary of State, Mark Martin, reported voter turnout was in line with expectations for the primary. Martin had predicted voter turnout would be about 20%.

Dark money and dirty politics cast pall over state supreme court race

Arkansas: Votes in the state's only contested state supreme court race are still being counted. However, according to the numbers available on the Arkansas Secretary of State's website, Robin Wynne, currently a judge on the Arkansas Court of Appeals, holds a slim lead over appellate attorney Tim Cullen.

Unfortunately, an ad critical of Cullen, which aired during the final days before the election, attracted more attention than the race itself. The ad claimed Cullen "worked to throw out the sentence of a repeat sexual predator, arguing that child pornography was a 'victimless crime'."

Five days before the election, Factcheck.org looked into the facts behind the 30-second TV spot, which was paid for by the Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA). The ad said Cullen called child pornography a "victimless crime" in a brief he wrote while representing a client on an appeal. Cullen told the organization the words he used in the brief were misinterpreted and taken out of context.

Cullen put out an ad of his own. In it he stated that LEAA's ad was a lie and went on to criticize Wynne, saying "my opponent knows it." He also said, "I do not and have never believed that child pornography is a victimless crime." Factcheck.org criticized Cullen's ad, saying there was no evidence to show Wynne's campaign was responisble for putting out the ad. The organization pointed out Wynne denied having anything to do with the ad on his Facebook page. However, the organization decried the ad critical of Cullen saying,

“	The LEAA attack ad is beyond the pale. It comes at the 11th hour and distorts the record in a blatant appeal to fear and emotion. It is funded by special interests, but we don’t know the real intent of those behind the ad.	”
—Factcheck.org

According to a blog for the Arkansas Times, the ad, estimated to have cost as much as $400,000, seemed unnecessary in a race between two candidates who weren't very well-known or controversial. The blog speculates that perhaps the ad wasn't really about either Cullen or Wynne, but instead was more of a trial run to test the effects of such an ad during a race for a seat on the top court. Two years from now, the state's chief justice seat will be up for grabs.

Check back for the results in this race and all the state's judicial races on our Arkansas state judicial elections page.

See also

• Judgepedia's Election Central
• 2014 judicial election dates