Justices on the ballot

By Diane Hettrick

The Washington State Supreme Court has 5 of its 9 seats on the ballot for this year's election. I always find it daunting to vote for judges because of the lack of real information about the candidates. I still mourn the loss of the VotingForJudges.org site that the Washington Bar Association used to publish.

It would list the candidate and link to endorsements and articles, without making a recommendation.

I started to recreate their work and gave up pretty quickly. But I was shocked at the clear division that immediately emerged.

I received a list of endorsements from the Washington State Republican party. I found the Seattle Times endorsements. There were no matches between the two. I tried unsuccessfully to find endorsements from the Washington State Democrats, so I checked the local organizations. Again there were no matches.

There is an interesting page with history of each candidate's rise to office: Full Court Press click the link that says "See the races"

The League of Women Voters of Washington conducted interviews with each candidate, which can be viewed here.

Here's what I found:

Position 1:

 

Scott Edwards WAGOP

Laura Christensen Colberg WAGOP

Colleen Melody Seattle Times 32nd Dem 1st Dems

Position 3

David Stevens WAGOP

Jaime Hawk 32 Dem 1st Dem

J. Michael Diaz Seattle Times 32 Dem 1st Dem

Position 5:

Dave Larson WAGOP

Theo Angelis 32 Dem 1st Dem

Sharonda Amamilo Seattle Times

Greg Miller

Position 7: 

Todd Bloom WAGOP

Debra Stevens Seattle Times 32 Dem 1st Dem

Karim Merchant

David Shelvey

Position 4, will appear on the November general election ballot.

Ian Burke 

Sean O'Donnell 

Because only two candidates filed for Position 4, they will not appear on the primary ballot. 

For voters looking to learn more about the candidates and the court, Full Court Press has launched a dedicated website resource at www.wasupremecourt.org. - Click the box that says "See the Races."

Additionally, because judicial races are non-partisan, only races with three or more candidates appear on a Primary ballot 

For the Superior Court, if a single candidate files, they are deemed elected after candidate filing ends in May.