Voting For Judges (dot) org

By Diane Hettrick

Other than all those charter amendments, the most difficult things on the ballot are the judicial contests. They are enormously important and we have so little real information.

However, the website VotingForJudges.org is made for voters who know little about the candidates.

For each contested race it includes the statement from each candidate, any editorials about the contest, and a chart which shows how legal associations rated the candidates.

I just checked the races on my ballot. In King county find yours HERE and statewide HERE

To my surprise, in one of the races on my ballot, the incumbent who has been advertising widely has only been rated a lukewarm "qualified" by the King county bar association, while her challenger, whose name I have never heard, was rated "well qualified" by King county and two other associations and "Exceptionally well qualified" by five other associations.

Paul Fjelstad, a retired Kitsap County attorney created and provides ongoing updates to Voting for Judges.

He was honored with the 2007 King County Bar Association President's Award for his work. He also received a Washington State Bar Association Local Hero Award and a Kitsap County Bar Association President's Award.

VotingforJudges.org is a nonpartisan, impartial source of information about judicial elections in the state of Washington. The site was established in 2006 to provide information to voters in connection with the appellate judicial contests that year, and it has expanded to cover all judicial elections throughout the state. All of Washington's 2020 judicial elections are included.

No information is included for non-contested races.