Original reporting · The Marshall Project
Key Local and State Criminal Justice Elections to Follow in the Midterms
What happened
With the midterms 10 days away, The Marshall Project published a guide to the state and local races that shape criminal justice. The guide was written by Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts Magazine, and published in partnership with Bolts. It says that while control of Congress gets the most attention on Nov. 3, criminal justice and law enforcement are “largely shaped by down-ballot races all over the country.”
According to the guide, voters in 27 states will elect state supreme court justices. The article calls these courts the highest local authority in criminal cases. It points to Michigan, where the high court has repeatedly restricted life-without-parole sentences, and to Oregon, where a ruling forced the state to dismiss criminal cases when it cannot guarantee defendants timely legal counsel. The Marshall Project also reported on contested sheriff races where cooperation with immigration enforcement is a central issue, and on hundreds of prosecutor elections. One is the open seat for Minneapolis’ chief prosecutor, where a candidate generally aligned with outgoing prosecutor Mary Moriarty faces an opponent running on a clear break from her reforms.
Voters will also decide some policies directly, the guide reported. Virginians will vote on a constitutional amendment that would restore the right to vote to anyone not currently incarcerated. It would end a lifetime ban for people with felony convictions, a rule the article traces to a 1902 constitutional convention it says was aimed at entrenching white supremacy. Indiana, Louisiana and Tennessee are considering amendments that would restrict bail and prohibit pretrial release in some cases. In Colorado, one measure would require local law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities and another would raise sentences for fentanyl-related charges. A Kentucky amendment would limit a governor’s clemency power in the final months of a term.
The Marshall Project’s piece is a newsletter overview. It does not set out each measure’s supporters’ and opponents’ arguments in detail, and results will not be known until after Nov. 3. It points readers to Bolts’ guide to hundreds more contests.
Our reflection
Think about a mother whose son is sitting in a county jail, waiting on a hearing date. Think about a man in Virginia who finished his sentence a long time ago and, under the rule the guide describes, cannot cast a ballot for the rest of his life. Neither of them is waiting on the fight for Congress. The people who will decide their next year hold county and state offices most of us could not name.
Most of us skip those lines. I have done it. We study the big race like it’s the playoffs, then guess on the rest or leave them blank. Some of us mark those lines out of fear, with an old break-in or a funeral still making the choice. Others go by a slogan we never tested, and that happens in every direction. That is a sin of attention, and it is ours. Jesus said the things that defile a person come from inside (Mark 7:20 to 23). Not caring about a stranger in a cell starts in the same place.
God cared about the town gate long before there were ballots. Moses told Israel to appoint judges and officers in every town and to follow justice, only justice (Deuteronomy 16:18 to 20). Jesus told a story about a judge who neither feared God nor respected people, and a widow who kept coming back until she got justice (Luke 18:1 to 8). He knew courts from the inside. He was tried at night on testimony that did not agree, and he was handed over by a governor who washed his hands of it. The Savior who stood in that room is the one who says, “I was in prison and you came to me.”
So a vote for sheriff is a question of stewardship. Who will hold the keys in your county, and how will they judge a scared 16-year-old or a grieving family? None of that is settled. The reporting above describes courts that restricted life-without-parole sentences and ordered cases dismissed when people had no lawyer. Offices change when the people in them change, and people do change. I have watched young men we first met inside detention come home and lead. Our mentors stay with them for a year after release. One charging policy can still decide whether they come home at all.
Before Nov. 3, pull up your sample ballot and read it all the way to the bottom. Learn what each office actually controls. Ask the candidates how they would treat a young person at first contact, and a family on the other side of the visiting-room glass. Then vote your conscience. The steps below are a place to start this week.
You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Deuteronomy 16:18
Your move
Source: The Marshall Project, “Key Local and State Criminal Justice Elections to Follow in the Midterms”