Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T11:13:21.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Significance of Voting Cues in State Supreme Court Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Philip L. Dubois
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Voters rarely take time to inform themselves about the candidates and issues in judicial elections. Uninformed, voters must rely upon some kind of voting cue, such as political party affiliation, incumbency, name familiarity, or the like, to help them cast their ballots in these low-salience elections. This article examines the effects these cues have in determining voter behavior in partisan and nonpartisan elections for state supreme court justices. The results show that party labels structure voter behavior along partisan lines. Without a party cue, however, voting decisions are relatively unstructured and, as examples show, often produce idiosyncratic results. The implications of these findings for the continuing debate over judicial selection are then explored.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , Spring 1979 , pp. 757 - 779
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Professors David Adamany and Alexander J. Groth and Ms. Lisa Lewis Dubois for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

References

ABRAMOWITZ, Alan I. (1975) “Name Familiarity, Reputation, and the Incumbency Effect in a Congressional Election,” 28 Western Political Quarterly 668.Google Scholar
ADAMANY, David (1969) “The Party Variable in Judges' Voting: Conceptual Notes and a Case Study,” 63 American Political Science Review 57.Google Scholar
ADAMANY, David and Philip, DUBOIS (1976) “Electing State Judges,” 1976 Wisconsin Law Review 731.Google Scholar
ADRIAN, Charles R. (1952) “Some General Characteristics of Nonpartisan Elections,” 46 American Political Science Review 766.Google Scholar
ATKINS, Burton (1976) “Judicial Elections: What the Evidence Shows,” 50 The Florida Bar Journal 152.Google Scholar
BAIN, Henry M. and Donald S., HECOCK (1957) Ballot Position and Voter's Choice: The Arrangement of Names on the Ballot and Its Effect on the Voter. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
BARBER, Kathleen (1971) “Ohio Judicial Elections—Nonpartisan Premises With Partisan Results,” 32 Ohio State Law Journal 762.Google Scholar
BARBER, Kathleen (1972) “Selection of Ohio Appellate Judges: A Case Study in Invisible Politics,” in Gargan, J. and Coke, J. (eds.), Political Behavior and Public Issues in Ohio. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press.Google Scholar
BEATTY, Jerry K. (1970) “Decision-Making on the Iowa Supreme Court, 1965-1969,” 19 Drake Law Review 342.Google Scholar
BEECHEN, Paul D. (1974) “Can Judicial Elections Express the People's Choice,” 57 Judicature 242.Google Scholar
BEISER, Edward N. and Jonathan, SILBERMAN, (1971) “The Political Partv Variable: Workmen's Compensation in the New York Court of Appeals,” 3 Polity 521.Google Scholar
BLALOCK, Hubert (1960) Social Statistics. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
BOWEN, Don (1965) “The Explanation of Judicial Voting Behavior From Sociological Characteristics of Judges,” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, Yale University.Google Scholar
BYRNE, Gary C. and J. Kristian, PUESCHEL (1974) “But Who Should I Vote for For County Coroner?” 36 Journal of Politics 778.Google Scholar
CAMPBELL, Angus, Philip E., CONVERSE, Warren E., MILLER, and Donald R., STOKES, (1960) The American Voter. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
CONVERSE, Philip E. (1966) “The Concept of a Normal Vote,” in A. Campbell et al., Elections and the Political Order. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
COVER, Albert D. (1977) “One Good Term Deserves Another: The Advantage of Incumbency in Congressional Elections,” 21 American Journal of Political Science 523.Google Scholar
COWART, Andrew T. (1973) “Electoral Choice in the American States: Incumbency Effects, Partisan Forces, and Divergent Partisan Majorities,” 67 American Political Science Review 835.Google Scholar
CURTISS, W.D. (1976) “Screening Judicial Candidates for Election,” 59 Judicature 320.Google Scholar
DUBOIS, Philip L. (1978) “Judicial Elections in the States: Patterns and Consequences,” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
DUBOIS, Philip L. (1979) “Voter Turnout in State Judicial Elections: An Analysis of the Tail on the Electoral Kite,” Journal of Politics (forthcoming).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ESCOVITZ, Sari S. (1975) “Judicial Selection and Tenure,” pamphlet published by the American Judicature Society.Google Scholar
FAIR, Daryl R. (1967) “An Experimental Application of Scalogram Analysis to State Supreme Court Decisions,” 1967 Wisconsin Law Review 449.Google Scholar
FEELEY, Malcolm (1969) “A Comparative Analysis of State Supreme Court Behavior,” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
FEELEY, Malcolm (1971) “Another Look at the Tarty Variable' in Judicial Decision-Making: An Analysis of the Michigan Supreme Court,” 4 Polity 91.Google Scholar
FREEDMAN, Stanley R. (1974) “The Saliency of Party and Candidate in Congressional Elections: A Comparison of 1958 and 1970,” in Luttbeg, Norman R. (ed.), Public Opinion and Public Policy. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
GROSSMAN, Joel B. (1972) “A Political View of Judicial Ethics,” 9 San Diego Law Review 803.Google Scholar
JACOB, Herbert (1966) “Judicial Insulation—Elections, Direct Participation and Public Attention to the Courts in Wisconsin,” 1966 Wisconsin Law Review 801.Google Scholar
JOHNSON, Charles A., Roger C., SHAEFER, and R. Neal, MCKNIGHT (1978) “Saliency of Judicial Candidates and Elections,” 59 Social Science Quarterly 371.Google Scholar
KAMINSKY, Martin (1977) “A Proposal for Mandatory Preselection Screening for State Court Judges,” 51 St. Johns Law Review 516.Google Scholar
KESSEL, John (1972) “Comment: The Issues in Issue Voting,” 65 American Political Science Review 459.Google Scholar
KEY, V.O. Jr. (1949) Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: A. A. Knopf.Google Scholar
KEY, V.O. Jr. (1966) The Responsible Electorate. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KLOTS, AUen (1955) “The Selection of Judges and the Short Ballot,” 38 Journal of the American Judicature Society 134.Google Scholar
KOSTROSKI, Warren L. (1973) “Party and Incumbency in Postwar Senate Elections: Trends, Patterns, and Models,” 67 American Political Science Review 1213.Google Scholar
LADINSKY, Jack and Allen, SILVER (1967) “Popular Democracy and Judicial Independence: Electorate and Elite Reactions to Two Wisconsin Supreme Court Elections,” 1967 Wisconsin Law Review 128.Google Scholar
LEE, Stephen (1973) “Judicial Selection and Tenure in Arizona,” 1973 Law and the Social Order 51.Google Scholar
LOWE, R. Stanley (1971) “Voluntary Merit Selection Plans” 55 Judicature 161.Google Scholar
MARGOLIS, Michael (1977) “From Confusion to Confusion: Issues and the American Voter (1956-1972),” 71 American Political Science Review 31.Google Scholar
MAYO, Charles (1964) “The 1961 Mayoralty Election in Los Angeles: The Political Party in a Nonpartisan Election,” 17 Western Political Quarterly 325.Google Scholar
MILLER, Warren E. and Teresa, LEVITIN (1976) Leadership and Change: The New Politics and the American Electorate. Cambridge, Mass: Winthrop Publishers, Inc.Google Scholar
MOOS, Malcolm (1941) “Judicial Elections and Partisan Endorsements of Judicial Candidates in Minnesota,” 35 American Political Science Review 69.Google Scholar
NAGEL, Stuart (1961) “Political Party Affiliation and Judges' Decisions,” 55 American Political Science Review 843.Google Scholar
NAGEL, Stuart (1973) Comparing Elected and Appointed Judicial Systems. Beverly Hills: Sage Professional Papers in American Politics.Google Scholar
NAGEL, Stuart (1974) “Multiple Correlation of Judicial Backgrounds and Decisions,” 2 Florida State University Law Review 258.Google Scholar
NIE, Norman, Sidney, VERBA and John R., PETROCIK (1976) The Changing American Voter. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
PHILIP, Cynthia Owen, Paul, NEJELSKI, and Aric, PRESS (1976) Where Do Judges Come From? New York: Institute of Judicial Administration.Google Scholar
POMPER, Gerald (1968) Elections in America: Control and Influence in Democratic Politics. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.Google Scholar
POMPER, Gerald (1975) Voters' Choice: Varieties of American Electoral Behavior. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.Google Scholar
RANNEY, Austin (1962) “The Utility and Limitations of Aggregate Data in the Study of Electoral Behavior,” in Ranney, Austin (ed.), Essays on the Behavioral Study of Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
RICE, Ross (1961) “Amazing Arizona: Politics in Transition,” in Jonas, Frank (ed.), Western Politics. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
ROBINSON, W.S. (1950) “Ecological Correlations and the Behavior of Individuals,” 15 American Sociological Review 351.Google Scholar
SCHUBERT, Glendon (1959) Quantitative Analysis of Judicial Behavior. Glencoe, Ill: The Free Press.Google Scholar
STOKES, Donald and Warren, MILLER (1962) “Party Government and the Saliency of Congress,” 26 Public Opinion Quarterly 531.Google Scholar
ULMER, Sidney (1962) “The Political Party Variable in the Michigan Supreme Court,” 11 Journal of Public Law 352.Google Scholar
WALKER, Jack (1966) “Ballot Forms and Voter Fatigue: An Analysis of the Office Block and Party Column Ballots,” 10 Midwest Journal of Political Science 448.Google Scholar
WATSON, Richard and Rondal, DOWNING (1969) The Politics of the Bench and the Bar: Judicial Selection Under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
WINTERS, Glenn R. (1973) Selected Readings: Judicial Selection and Tenure (rev. ed.). Chicago: The American Judicature Society.Google Scholar