How to Vote in a Judicial Election

It’s that time of the year — election season — and you might be faced with the dubious privilege of voting for a judge. For the conscientious voter, the judges’ section of the ballot is the most stressful, because no one has any idea who to vote for. Because YIMBY Law is a (c)(3), we can’t make endorsements, but we can give you some ideas for how to pick judges.

Avoid suburban judges, vote for judges who live in dense areas.

Judges are cagey about exactly where they live — because being a judge is dangerous! — but they will sometimes advertise being active in community leadership, or it might be well known for other reasons in what town or area they live. Look for judges who live in the kinds of communities YIMBYs want to replicate — dense, integrated, pro-housing ones. Avoid judges who are residents of exclusive, segregated suburbs.

Look for relevant experience

A candidate who was a City Attorney always deserves a second look. It’s (usually) better for YIMBYs to be before a judge who knows something about how land use and permitting work. But there’s a caveat. Some city attorneys are reasonable and pro-housing, some are not. Ask other YIMBYs to discover whether this city attorney’s office was pro-housing or not so much.

Candidates who have experience in “legal services,” “legal aid,” or “consumer protection” are also probably good bets. “Legal services” sounds like it could be anything, but it refers specifically to providing free or low-cost civil lawyers to low-income people. This overlaps with but is broader than activities that a candidate might describe as “tenant rights.” We have found that people who have experience in legal services really understand what we are doing at YIMBY Law. “Consumer protection” or “consumer law” practitioners are also sympatico with to YIMBY Law. We enter land use conflicts to represent the interests of housing consumers - we represent the renter or homeowner who will eventually rent or buy the proposed housing. Representing the structurally underrepresented party or the consumer interest is legible to legal aid and consumer attorneys, respectively. 

Look at their endorsements

Reading a judge’s campaign website is the least satisfying of the strategies because judges are prohibited from disclosing any of their positions. They make a normal politician’s vapid and vague copy seem rich and informative in comparison. However their endorsements can give some information. If they have endorsements from local elected officials, you can get a sense of their social and political circles. Are these electeds mostly pro-housing and transit? Or are these neighborhood-character electeds? 

Ask us and ask around! 

Most of the time, candidates for judge have never been on the bench before, but sometimes they have. Reach out to hello@yesinmybackyard.org and we can look to see if they have ruled on any cases that are relevant to our issues. We’ll take a look at their opinions and share what we think.

Also, if you’re a member of YIMBY Action, post about the race in our slack community to see if other YIMBYs have insiderish info on any of the candidates. Candidates for judges are out and about, active in their communities. You probably know someone who knows someone who knows them personally.