How to pick judges

Judicial races — long the low-profile items found languishing at the end of the ballot — suddenly are getting a lot of attention in the way of more money from special-interest groups.

The best defense against the onslaught of dueling spin is an informed electorate. Help for the conscientious, but confused, has arrived in the form of an independent and elegantly simple Web site: www.votingforJudges.org

More resources are flowing to these races for a couple of reasons. Some special interests want to influence these races so candidates more sympathetic to their causes will be elected; other groups want to balance what they see already as too much special-interest money.

The phenomenon is counterproductive for a system where impartiality — except to the law — is the goal.

The www.votingforJudges.org sponsoring group is a comforting mix of credible legal and civic organizations. Several bar associations from around the state, groups representing defense lawyers as well as plaintiff lawyers, and the University of Washington School of Law and Washington State University. The League of Women Voters of Washington and the Municipal League of King County are signed on.

The beauty of the Web site is that it provides a tutorial on Washington's judicial-election process and then presents information about judicial races all in one place. Voters can sort through media stories as well as endorsements from newspaper editorial boards and special-interest groups. A couple of clicks and you can see how much money the candidates have and who is giving it to them.

A clever feature lets voters click on their home county to see which judicial races they will have to vote on. So far, it shows state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals races. Later, organizers hope it will be able to provide similar information for county judicial elections, such as for Superior Court.

Voters would be wise to bookmark this site and recycle the campaign brochures stuffing their mailboxes and littering their porches.