Low turnout dooms judge who backed free speech

Wendell Griffen (pictured here) is a longtime appeals court judge and ordained Baptist minister in Arkansas.

It's unfortunate when people don't vote, but I'll admit the system discourages folks from voting. After the lack of good candidates in the '96 presidential campaign (when Kentucky refused to put Ralph Nader on the ballot), I've been in an almost constant state where I've just wanted to vomit.

Several years ago, the state judicial ethics panel tried to punish Griffen because he dared to criticize Bush and the Iraq War. The commission battled Griffen until just last year before finally dropping the case.

Griffen's remarks weren't made in court, and weren't directly related to his judicial duties. A previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling had effectively ensured his right to speak on these matters even if he is a judge. The long and short of it is, the ethics commission was going after Griffen because of his views. That much is clear.

But look at what happens when people don't vote: Yesterday, Griffen was up for reelection. But hardly anyone voted. As a result of this, he lost. He was probably opposed by Bush cultists, who have oodles of resources to make and distribute voter guides, so their side had much better turnout. Their side has the more powerful machine.

Even though Bush conservatives haven't been at the top of their game lately like they were a few years ago, they still pull off upsets in important judicial elections. I think it's because turnout is suppressed, which in turn is because it's hard to get information in judicial contests. Media coverage is generally very poor, and judges don't have stances on issues that are connected to their duties. They have philosophies, not stances, and that's too much for the pop-up media to digest.

So try to get all the available facts before an election. Sometimes it's too important to stay home from the polls.

(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOVNl-yS6Hmvsqi4ly9CsSnhi_fQD90PQ2NO0)