This article is the second in a series of articles on California judicial elections. The first one looked at the judicial election process for the Supreme Court and courts of appeal. This article looks at the election process for Superior Court judges (i.e. trial court judges). Trial court judges preside over trials and hearings in all criminal and civil cases, including family, probate, mental health, juvenile, and traffic cases. During FY 2012–2013, nearly 8 million cases were filed in Superi...

Shockingly, only about 58 percent of the public vote in judicial elections. It turns out that voters simply don’t turn to the back of the ballot (the judicial elections section) because they don’t know how the state judicial system works or where to find neutral information about the judges. Yet, the judicial system is the tenet of democracy -- the only nonpartisan branch of government that, first and foremost, should be fair and free to all. This article, the first of a series of articles on j...