Assessing Judicial Elections: Effects upon the Electorate of High and Low Articulation Systems

The argument is advanced that high articulation judicial electoral systems will produce among judicial election voters a higher level of participation, a higher level of information, and a greater degree of support for a balancing of democratic accountability and judicial independence than occurs in low articulation systems. A high articulation jurisdiction involves a number of recruitment actors participating throughout a three-step recruitment sequence, while a low articulation system has but one or two actors operating during each stage. Data were collected from surveys of judicial candidates, local bar associations, and registered voters in six jurisdictions in Oregon and Washington in 1982 primary elections. Findings derived from these surveys provide support for the hypothesized beneficial results of high articulation electoral circumstances.