This election, a significant change will come to Washington’s highest court.
Voters will elect 5 justices out of the 9 that sit on the state’s Supreme Court. Typically, during a given election cycle, voters may decide on three justice positions, which have 6 -year terms.
The number of judge candidates in this election cycle is unique.
“I reached out to the Secretary of State's office to ask if this is the first time we've had this many justice positions on the ballot at one time, and they said they think so. It seems to be unprecedented. There's a caveat, though. It is hard to be certain, they say, because historic election results did not list justice positions the same way they are listed today,” said Mike McClanahan, TVW’s The Impact producer and host.
“Now, there have been elections, including as recently as 2020, where there were four judicial positions on the state Supreme Court ballot in the fall. But you know, this is five. So, we're looking at more than half of the nine justices.”
In the last year, two justices took early retirement, which is why two extra seats are on the ballot.
The two justices appointed to those seats in the last year are running to try to keep them.
In two of the other races, incumbents also decided to not seek re-election, all amounting to a shift in the court.
McClanahan says once back in session the new court will face a litany of potential issues, such as a different legal challenge to the Millionaire’s Tax.
“Of course, there's also an initiative on the ballot that's seeking to repeal that. But there's a separate legal challenge in the works that is just widely expected to make it to the Supreme Court at some point,” McClanahan said.
