HARRISBURG (AP) – Voters are deciding if three PA Supreme Court justices get another term. Whether they are retained will shape the makeup of the state’s highest court ahead of midterm elections next year, when the court could be asked to settle partisan battles over election laws. Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht are Democrats seeking to be retained. Conservatives say the justices are liberal in their support of abortion and favoring COVID-19 lockdown measures. Reelecting any of the three justices would continue the Democrat majority, which is currently 5-2. Defeats for all three justices would have the potential to leave the bench in a partisan deadlock for two years, with two Democrats and two Republicans.
One PA Superior Court Judge Alice Beck Debow and one Commonwealth Court Judge Michael Wojcik – both Democrats – are also facing a retention vote in today’s election. Lancaster County voters will have two judges on the Court of Common Pleas facing retention vote. They are Dennis Reinaker and Thomas Boyd Sponaugle.
