There is an amendment on the ballot that I am unsure about. Will you give me some jelly opinions?

I would vote against this.

It puts too much in the Governor’s hands to fill vacancies without any oversight or confirmation.

When a vacancy gets filled, that person becomes the incumbent and gets an automatic advantage in being re-elected.

I would vote to support that vacancies be filled by election if a year left in the term. Or the Governor can appoint by must be confirmed by ⅔rds of the legislature.

The pro is that the measure would prevent gaps on the already overburdened bench from further delaying judicial justice. If the appointment only extends for the remainder of the previously serving judge’s term, the remedy seems reasonable. I’m much more concerned about the practice itself of electing judges, thereby subjecting what should be the one branch of government immune to stinky politics, to the slime infecting the other 2 branches.

“Amendment 3: Judicial Appointments

This amendment would require a governor to prospectively fill vacancies on the Florida Supreme Court or a district court of appeal. The vacancy needs to be filled when a justice or judge reaches the retirement age of 70, fails to qualify for a retention election or fails to secure a majority of votes during his or her retention election. Currently, it can be interpreted that a newly sworn-in governor is the one to fill vacancies. This amendment would make it so that the outgoing governor, rather than the newly sworn-in governor, would appoint the successor judge or justice.

If you vote yes

With this amendment, it would make it so that an outgoing governor could fill judicial vacancies instead of having to wait for the newly elected governor to fill them. It could possibly shorten the time of judicial vacancy in the Florida Supreme Court or a district court of appeal.

If you vote no

Without it, a newly sworn-in governor will fill prospective judicial vacancies and continue to allow judicial vacancies to exist for up to 120 days.” 2014 mid-term FL. election guide

Wow, have fun with that. I personally oppose giving the outgoing elected official the power to appointing things or conferring things after he is voted out of office. I’ve seen too much abuse of that power. But the other side is he or she is still in office till they have to leave. That’s going to take some more thought.

The con is that judicial elections tend to be won by the person already in the position, so if the governor can choose those appointments, they are getting more influence than they were originally designed to.

@JLeslie Which way did it go?