ADELE FERGUSON - Voting on state’s top judges can require research

ONE OF THE TOUGHEST votes people will make as they plough through the candidates this year is when they reach the judges.

The votes fall off here because people would rather withhold a vote than find out later that they voted wrong, that is, for someone on the wrong side of what the voter believes. Ask first? Doesn’t work. Most judicial candidates fend off questions about their beliefs by saying a case involving that issue might come before them. I ask everyone I interview where they stand on the death penalty since I will never vote for opponents.

They all say they will obey the law (which al...