Benton County Republican Party Publishes Judicial Candidates' Voting Records

The Benton County Republican Party is putting the voting records of judicial candidates right at folks' fingertips. For the first time, the party has posted the records, which are public information, on its website. "Those voting records are only pertaining to the elections for which they voted in, preferential primaries, general elections, etc. This has got nothing to do with how they voted on pro-life issues or anything like that," says Mike Sevak, party chairman. Voters can only see if a particular candidate voted democrat or republican. Sevak says often, people at the polls don't know much about the candidates running for judge. "This is not a way to persuade any voter to vote a different way, this is just another educational tool that the general public can use to make a decision on how and who they'd like to vote for." Niki Cung is running for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. She says a voting record doesn't necessarily reflect how a candidate will act as a judge. "I don't believe that looking at anyone's voting history, especially in the primaries, will indicate how they will rule from the bench." She says the judicial races are non-partisan, for good reason. "I think that judges are so different from other politicians, judges do not have the power of the purse, judges don't have the power of the sword, and so we have to treat judges and judicial candidates different from other politicians and elected officials."