PITTSBURGH—Pennsylvania voters have decided to retain three of their state Supreme Court justices for another decade, after an unusually contentious judicial election season.
Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht—three of the five Democrats on Pennsylvania’s seven-member Supreme Court—were each due to face a regular judicial retention election on Nov. 4.
Rather than pitting the three justices against specific competitors, Pennsylvania’s retention election system asks voters to simply vote “yes” to keep their existing justices, or “no” to vacate a seat on the court. A vote to retain a justice allows him or her to remain on the court for another 10 years, while a vote against retention creates a vacancy to be filled….