Reply #21: This can vary by state ... [View All]

[RoyGBiv]

Without looking it up, I couldn't tell you the state judges' party affiliation for my state either because these people are appointed officials on which the people vote retention. We're simply given a yes/no choice on the name, with no party affiliation attached. On more local races in which the judges run for election, they adopt a party affiliation and run on it.

Again, I am not familiar with New Mexico politics, but the numbers presented here appear to be reflective of the latter kind of race. Looking back a few years, I noticed that New Mexico voters vote on retention in some cases but also vote for candidates to the courts. (I don't know what the specifics are.) In those races, the candidates' party affiliation should be presented on the ballot. Noting for one of the positions in '96 and '00 that a Green was a candidate, this candidate received the same proportion of votes that would be consistent with voting for a member of a party and not just the candidate. Predictably, the Green candidate for appeals judge in '00 received more votes than did Nader in the presidential race.