More than half of elected state supreme court seats are up for election this year

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, Brew. 

By: Ethan Rice

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. More than half of elected state supreme court seats are up for election this year
  2. 50 states in 25 days—Wisconsin and Alaska
  3. How can I check the status of my ballot?

More than half of elected state supreme court seats are up for election this year

Thirty-three states are holding elections for their supreme courts in 2024. In total, 82 of the 158 elected seats on state supreme courts are up for election. Of these seats:

  1. 61 are held by nonpartisan justices
  2. 15 are held by Republican justices
  3. six are held by Democratic justices

States have varying methods for selecting their supreme court justices. Of the states that elect justices, eight hold partisan elections for judges, 13 states hold nonpartisan elections, and 20 states hold retention elections. Illinois uses both partisan elections and retention elections.

In a partisan election, political parties can nominate candidates, or the candidates can declare their partisan affiliation when they run. In a nonpartisan election, some states allow candidates to declare their party affiliations, while some states prohibit them from doing so. In a retention election, an incumbent judge does not face an opponent. A question is placed on the ballot asking whether each judge shall be retained for another term, and voters choose “yes” or “no.” The judge is removed from the position if a certain percentage of voters (often 50%) indicate that he or she should not be retained.

In addition to the direct election of justices, voters will also decide who has the authority to appoint judges in six other states: Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Utah, and Vermont. The governor in each of these states appoints justices, so a change in partisan control of that office can affect the justices appointed to the court.

We are watching seven state supreme court elections this fall as battleground elections. Those are:

  1. Arizona: Both justices up for retention this year were Gov. Doug Ducey (R) appointees and both voted to uphold the state’s abortion ban from the 1860s. Katie Hobbs (D) would appoint replacements if a justice is not retained.
  2. Kentucky: Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and the Kentucky Republican Party have endorsed opposing candidates in this election. Sabato’s Crystal Ball’s Louis Jacobson said Kentucky is one of five states to “have competitive supreme court elections this year with results that could shift the court’s ideological balance, at least to a degree.”
  3. Michigan: Democrats have a 4-3 majority on the court. One justice appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is running for a full term, and the seat of a retiring Republican justice is also up for election. Republicans would need to win both to gain a majority on the court.
  4. Montana: Bolts‘ Alex Burness said that two liberal justices “have chosen to retire rather than seek a new term. And conservatives see this as a major opportunity to reshape the court in their favor.” In 2023, the court blocked a trio of abortion-related bills passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
  5. North Carolina: Justice Alison Riggs (D), appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper (D), is running for a full term. Republicans won a 5-2 majority on the court in 2022, so this election will decide whether it remains 5-2 or becomes a 6-1 majority.
  6. Ohio: Three seats are up on the court where there is a 4-3 Republican majority. If Democrats win all three, they will have a 4-3 majority. If Republicans win all three, they will have a 6-1 majority.
  7. Oklahoma: On the Oklahoma Supreme Court (which deals with civil matters), Republicans have a 5-4 technical majority. The Center for Politics‘ Louis Jacobson said, “While Oklahoma has become a ruby red state in recent years, the three supreme court justices facing retention elections this year were all appointed by Democratic governors.” The court has recently ruled against a state ban on abortions when the life of the mother is threatened and against a religious charter school receiving public funds.

Want to learn more about state and local judicial elections? Ballotpedia provides coverage of supreme court and intermediate appellate court elections, as well as local trial court elections for judges within the 100 largest cities in the United States as measured by population. Click here for information on state intermediate appellate court elections. Click here for information on local trial court elections.

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50 states in 25 days—Wisconsin and Alaska

As Election Day approaches, we’re continuing to dig into what voters across the country can expect to see on their ballots with our 50 states in 25 days series. Yesterday, we took a look at what’s on the ballot in Hawaii and Idaho. With eight business days between now and the final Friday before the election, let’s continue investigating what’s on the ballot across the country. Today, we’re looking at Wisconsin and Alaska.

Wisconsin

Let’s start with a look at Wisconsin’s elections. Here are some key dates and deadlines:

  • The deadline for registering online or by mail was Oct. 16. Voters can register in person at their municipal clerk’s office until Nov. 1 or at their polling place on Election Day. Early voting begins Oct. 22 and ends on Nov. 3. 
  • All polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time. Everyone who is in line when the polls close must be allowed to vote. Voters can find polling locations here. 

Wisconsin voters will decide elections for congressional, state legislative, judicial, and municipal offices and will also vote on statewide and local ballot measures.

Alaska

Next, let’s take a look at the Last Frontier. 

  • The deadline for registering online or in person was Oct. 6, and the deadline to register by mail was Oct. 5. Early voting began Oct. 21 and ends on Nov. 5. 
  • All polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Alaska Time. Everyone who is in line when the polls close must be allowed to vote. Voters can find polling locations here. 

Here’s what is on the ballot:

Want to learn more about the elections you’ll be voting in this year? Click here to use our Sample Ballot Lookup tool!

The information above is just a small snippet of the detailed information on Ballotpedia for each state. You can check out our deep dive into Wisconsin’s 2024 elections here and Alaska’s 2024 elections here.

Also, make sure to check our hub page, linked below, for future installments of the series.

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How can I check the status of my ballot?

Ballotpedia’s 2024 Election Help Desk provides reliable, nonpartisan answers to more than 50 election-related questions on topics ranging from voter registration to casting a ballot to the certification of final results. Today, we’re answering the question, How can I check the status of my ballot?

Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia give voters a way to track the status of their absentee/mail-in ballots online. In Illinois, Missouri, and Wyoming, voters can contact their local elections office to check on the status of their ballot. For links to each state’s ballot tracking resources, click here. 

Twelve states allow absentee/mail-in ballot counting to begin before Election Day. Twenty-three states allow counting to begin before polls close on Election Day. Fourteen states require counting to begin after polls close on Election Day. One state—Connecticut—allows the local registrar of voters to determine when ballots are counted.

All 50 states require voters to provide valid signatures on absentee/mail-in ballot return documents. In the event of a missing signature or a discrepancy in signature matching, 33 states require officials to notify and allow voters to correct errors through a process called ballot curing. Ballot curing is a two-part process that involves notification and correction. States that do not have a ballot curing process do not count ballots with missing or mismatched signatures.

Want more answers to election-related questions? From Can I register to vote online? to What happens if there is a tie in the Electoral College?, you can explore a number of other topics at the Help Desk.

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