Explaining the Vote in Judicial Elections: the 1984 Ohio Supreme Court Elections

rT ^HE MERITS of alternative systems for selection of state judges have been the subject of debate throughout American history (Dubois 1980: ch. 1). That debate continues today, focusing on the choice between the traditional systems of election and gubernatorial appointment and the twentieth-century innovation of the Missouri Plan, under which the governor appoints judges from a list of commission nominees. In recent years, the debate over state selection systems increasingly has been informed by empirical research about the operation and consequences of these systems, with the greatest attention given to judicial elections. A number of studies have examined patterns of outcomes in states that elect judges (Dubois 1980, 1984; Barber 1984; Hannah 1978), and several have used survey research to probe the information that voters seek and use to make their decisions (ohnson, Schaefer, and McKnight 1978; Lovrich and Sheldon 1983, 1985; Sheldon and Lovrich 1983). But there is still little survey evidence about the factors that influence voters' choices in judicial elections (but see Ladinsky and Silver 1967).' This limitation is unfortunate, because survey evidence on voters' choices is the most direct means to learn about the bases for those choices. This