Arguelles or Phillips. Moon or Weekes. McHugh or Shapiro.
They’re among the 15 mostly unfamiliar names Broward voters will find on their August election ballots.
It’s not as daunting in Palm Beach County, where voters will see only three such names: Casanova, Leifert and Middleton.
All are running for consequential positions, circuit and county court judgeships. Broward voters have seven judicial elections this month; Palm Beach County has one race.
Voting is open to all registered voters — by mail, early voting or on Election Day, Aug. 20. The contests will be decided on that day unless no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. If that happens, there’s a runoff in November.
“Picking a judge is not, ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe,’” said Alfreda Coward, a past president of the T.J. Reddick Bar Association, named after the first Black lawyer to practice in Broward and the first Black circuit court judge in Florida.
In voting for judicial candidates, pick “someone who is smart and learned and respectful and understanding,” advised Jason B. Blank, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who is president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Tough choice
It sounds simple enough. But judicial races are among the most difficult offices for people to figure out who deserves their votes.
“Most people are not going to take the time. It’s difficult,” said Barbara Roth, president of the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations, which is made up of more than 100 communities west of Boynton Beach.
COBWRA held a candidates’ forum on a Wednesday morning in late June; 150 to 160 people attended.
There’s precious little readily available information about the candidates. Most people have no idea who’s an incumbent, the candidate’s reputation, or which lawyer-candidate has much, if any, courtroom experience.
Because of limitations on what judicial candidates can say, “about all one can do is look at their record if there is one, and get a vibe about their potential,” said Fred Hadley, who publishes the Village Sentry, the 1,500-subscriber newsletter at the Century Village condominium community west of Boca Raton.
Now in its 15th year, the Sentry has often published candidate interviews and endorsements.
Candidates for judge don’t run with party labels attached to their names, so voters don’t even have that inkling of philosophy to help them guide their choices.
Candidates for judge can say little of substance because they can’t discuss how they might rule on controversial issues. The cost of mailing the slick campaign ads that fill mailboxes is expensive in a large county, so most candidates are limited to just one.
As a result, many people throw up their hands and skip judicial races.
In August 2022, 261,000 people cast ballots in Broward County. The six judicial races attracted an average of 233,000 votes, meaning about 11% skipped them. In Palm Beach County, 236,600 people voted. The two judicial races averaged 220,500, meaning 7% of voters didn’t participate.
People who do vote sometimes make their choices based on the order in which names appear on the ballot (it’s alphabetical), a candidate’s gender — and even if voters think a candidate is of a certain race or religion.
“I don’t really like the way we pick judges, but I can’t think of a better way,” said Steve Geller, a lawyer, Broward County commissioner and former Florida Senate Democratic Leader. “It’s very difficult.”
How to choose
With some time and effort, people who know the political and legal systems said it’s possible to figure out who should get a six-year term as a judge.
Watch the candidates: Various organizations conducted forums with judicial candidates. Some, but not all, are available online.
The League of Women Voters of Broward held judicial candidate forums that can be viewed online. The Broward Democratic Party’s Council of Club Presidents held a forum for judicial candidates that can be viewed on Facebook.
In Palm Beach County, the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations has its forum for judicial, state attorney and public defender candidates on YouTube.
The downside is it takes a lot of time to watch videos with candidates in each race.
Examine groups’ endorsements: A range of groups invests time studying and recommending judicial candidates. Sometimes there’s a hidden reason behind an organization recommending a candidate or withholding an endorsement.
But often there’s a consensus among organizations that normally disagree on just about everything.
For example, in the seven races for circuit judge and county judge on the ballot in Broward County in 2024, the Dolphin Democrats LGBTQ+ political club and the Broward Republican Party, agree on the best candidate in three races. In the fourth race, the Dolphin Democrats recommended one candidate and the county Republican Party said both were qualified.
And Bless Broward, a group of Black ministers, and the Fraternal Order of Police union agree on five of the seven races.
The LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance, and the Christian Family Coalition, which opposes LGBTQ+ rights, both endorsed the same candidate for county court judge.
The downside is there isn’t one-stop shopping. Finding the information requires searching on Google and on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.
Blank is cautious about giving too much weight to organizations’ choices. “Endorsements can sometimes be telling and endorsements can sometimes be nothing,” he said.
Consult newspaper endorsements: The South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board (which is the opinion section operating separately from news reporters) made endorsements in each judicial race in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Blank, Geller and Karen Fortman, president of the Council of Democratic Club presidents, said reading newspaper endorsement editorials is useful. “Even if you don’t agree with the recommendation,” Blank said.
Roth said Palm Beach County voters can consult the newspaper Editorial Board endorsements from both the Sun Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post.
Research candidates online: The Florida Bar has a site with basic information about judicial candidates, though it’s limited to statements of no more than 100 words.
Sometimes it’s possible to discern clues from candidate websites or Facebook pages. (“I had a wonderful childhood growing up on the farm,” “I have handled thousands of cases and presided over hundreds of jury trials,” “moved to South Florida as an infant,” or “From the beginning of his legal career, it has been (his) goal to become a judge.”)
Ask a lawyer: Blank, Coward and Geller said lawyers have a feel for judges and for other lawyers seeking to become judges.
“Talk to people who practice in front of the judges,” Coward said, “about their judicial temperament, their rulings, their ability to honor their oath and be fair and impartial.”
“Most of the time it’s pretty consistent. If there’s someone I believe is a bad judge, most of the lawyers who practice before them believe they’re a bad judge. Harsh unfair, delayed rulings or they’re disrespectful to the people who come before them, disrespectful to court staff. All those things are pretty consistent.”
Blank agreed.
“The best thing a voter can do when trying to figure out who to vote for in a judicial race is to look to the people who practice in front of or with that candidate. What’s the recommendation by the lawyers who know them the best,” Blank said.
“Does the candidate show the respect that someone in the position needs to show? Does the person have a wealth of knowledge in the legal arena? Are they respected by their peers? Being a judge is probably one of the hardest jobs in the judicial system because they truly have to put their personal beliefs aside and follow the law and respect all of the different people who come before them,” Blank said.
Factors to consider
Experience.
Consider the length of time someone has been practicing law or serving on the bench, and the nature of their experience.
That doesn’t make the oldest lawyer the best. Blank said a lifetime in practice doesn’t necessarily make someone a better judge than someone who hasn’t been a lawyer quite as long.
Coward said she would put “some weight to their experience. If they’re younger, they probably have less experience.” That doesn’t mean the oldest candidate is best, “but I would say, be there long enough to have proper experience,” Coward said.
If someone wants to run a courtroom, it stands to reason the person should have some familiarity with how the system operates. “It’s important to have tried a case,” Coward said.
Lori Vinikoor, president of the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, which is made up of more than 100 communities, recommended considering the length of time someone has been a lawyer, but also “what their experience is. If they worked in a prosecutor’s office, in a state attorney’s (office), that’s very good. If they worked to defend people, that’s very good. They’re judging, so the more they’ve been in front of judges in their lifetime, the better it is. And if someone has worked for a judge that’s fantastic.”
If someone’s legal practice consists entirely of commercial transactions and they’ve never been in a courtroom, it could be relevant.
Geller said he starts with a presumption in favor of an incumbent judge who has been scandal free. “Experience does matter. So I tend to support incumbent judges unless I have a reason not to,” Geller said.
Community involvement.
Coward said people who’ve been involved in their communities have better backgrounds for the judiciary.
“Those who’ve only traveled in elite communities, for instance, are less likely to be able to relate to the litigants before them,” Coward said.
Education.
There’s disagreement about the significance of where someone went to college and law school.
“The first thing for me is education, No. 1,” Vinikoor siad.
Coward disagreed. “I would put no weight into their education.”
Personality.
Vinikoor said she recommends looking at the candidate’s “personality when you hear them speak.”
“You want someone who’s going to be … and they all say (it) fair. Fair is important. But also a nice personality. We’ve all watched movies, oh he’s a hanging judge. You want to look for the person that they’re fair but nice and pleasant, not that they have any hang-ups. So you look very carefully at what their pet peeves are. And if you don’t agree with that or it doesn’t sound right, then there’s an issue,” Vinkikoor said.
“The other thing that is most important is that they treat their fellow candidates respectfully. They speak respectfully, they talk mostly about themselves, why you should vote for them. And what’s always great is if they tell a personal story that people can relate to,” Vinikoor said.
The Delray Alliance had about 150 people at its July 3 forum for judicial, state attorney and public defender candidates.
Politics
Candidates for judge, and judges once they’re elected, aren’t supposed to be political. Yet the political parties push their favored candidates.
Geller said judicial picks shouldn’t be based on partisan politics.
A candidate’s membership in the ultra-conservative legal group Federalist Society might make him less likely to vote for a candidate, Geller said. But not always.
Candidates in the Broward Council of Democratic Clubs forum were asked if they were members of or associated with the Federalist Society. Fortman said people can make of that information what they wish.
Geller said Federalist Society membership has effectively become a requirement for someone who wants a judicial appointment under Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Appointments to fill vacancies are made between elections and to fill higher-level judgeships.)
Geller said he knows people who have joined the Federalist Society so they could have it on their applications, not because they believe in its philosophy.
“Although the Federalist Society has a reputation as extremely far right wing, I know people that have become members even though they are not extreme far right wing because … if you’re not a member of the Federalist Society you’re not going to get appointed a judge,” Geller said. “I know some people who are really not extremists but have just joined so they can become a judge some day.”
More information
The Florida Bar has information about candidates at floridabar.org.
Broward League of Women Voters circuit court and county court forums are on YouTube. Broward Council of Democratic Club Presidents forum is on Facebook. Alliance of Delray Residential Associations (Palm Beach County) forum on YouTube starts at about 25 minutes into the video.
Almost all candidates have websites.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
