Judge retention vote
 

Out of curiosity I looked at the Sumter Co judge retention election wherein we decide to keep or remove sitting judges. There were six judges on the ballot in the Florida 5th district court of appeal. I never saw any organized opposition to any specific one of these six judges. All were appointed by Republican governors.

All six were retained. Five had almost identical retention votes at 75% to keep with a total of about 56K yes votes.

But one judge did far worse. He only received 67% and 50K votes. More voters voted in his retention than in any of the other five. In other words people who didn't care went out of their way to vote no on him.

No votes were: 18,446 18,108 19,275 18,476 18,244 and then 25,038

Other than his name being Cohen can anyone explain this outcome. Shame on Sumter county voters, my neighbors if you voted no because of his name. Of course you aren't anti-Semitic. Res ipsa loquitur.

re: electing judges.

Since most are unknown quantities to the vast majority of us (like trying to find a good lawyer), my old man had a rule of thumb he used in every case in which he did not know the judge and his/her rulings personally: "Vote Out The Incumbents. Every Time. Never let them get comfortable."

What difference does it make who appointed him? If he did a good job, keep him. If he didn't, get rid of him. Just like with all the others.

When judges are elected because of their politics, justice is not a priority!

Is it a priority if they are appointed because of their politics?

It is incredibly naive to believe politics is not involved when selecting, or voting, judges

If I interpret OP's concern, it is religion, not politics, that concerns him. He has accused the electorate as being anti-Semitic based solely on the vote count, as far as I can see. Without further information I see no basis for his accusation.

Anyone associated with the lunatic Charlie Crist should have been voted out. If the appointing Governor info was on the ballot, he would be gone.

The op should look at Charlie Crist's lack of support for Israel. Lol

Yeah, we voted against the three judges chosen by Crist and voted to keep the judges chosen by Scott and DeSantis.

The choice of some to reject judges appointed by GOP governor Crist does not explain why Cohen got so many fewer votes. As VA mentions there were others appointed by Crist and they did NOT get fewer votes than those of the more recent governors.

Try again to explain Cohen's lack of support. It amazes me that there is resistance to accepting that many of your peers are anti-Semitic. Many polls have shown that voters would not vote for a Jewish candidate for POTUS. In 2019 Gallup gave a figure of 7% who admitted it to a pollster. Of course in private the number is likely to be higher as people are hesitant to admit their bigotry to a pollster.

So far none of you has a reason for Cohen's lower numbers. I suppose you think anti-Semitism does not exist. I have no idea whether Judge Cohen is Jewish or not.

An excellent point (among some seemingly LOOOOOOG leaps/stretches as expressed on here ! ?).

Voters do not have much information provided on some choices. Very few have the time or knowledge to review the court records to make a decision.

I do not remember how I voted on every person but I went and consulted the Orlando Sentinel Voters guide and voted the opposite.

I also found that the conservative Florida Family Action organization recommended a no vote which may explain the minor differences in vote count.

If he were to be voted out then Gov DeSantis would appoint a replacement so the no vote was a safe choice if you are a conservative.

My determination
 

As others previously mentioned, if Crist appointed them I wanted them out, sorry but Crist is one of the most unstable flip flopping fools out there!! As for his last name, not even for one nano second did the thought "Cohen is Jewish" ever enter my thoughts, as was the same thoughts of many of my Republican friends, it was never mentioned. That being said, maybe there has been interactions that people are aware of over the years that added to their decisions, or just random people who didn't research before filling out ballot, but please this constant hot button of racism and anti semitism is getting worn out, I seriously doubt that had anything to do with people's voting decisions. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't believe so.

What an accusation to make! For shame! With no basis!

I voted no on 3 judges based on a republican voter guide. No idea of the names. Religion, Sex, or race had nothing to do with it