In our never-ending effort to make elections more transparent for voters, we are releasing our 2024 Judicial Race Project, a voter guide that attempts to remove the veil from the least transparent elections of all.

Judicial races are usually characterized by roadside signs saying nothing, fluffy TV ads and flashy mailers, with occasionally nasty campaigns, providing little illumination for voters who are mostly unfamiliar with the incumbents or challengers. This project aims to change that.

Before I tell you more, an apology: I wanted to get this up before so many people had cast ballots. It is solely my fault and not that of a fantastic panel of lawyers who were willing to study background documents prepared by Boyd Law School students, whom I also am very grateful to for participating.

I wanted to do more with the panel, too, fluffing them up with pictures and bios, but tempus fugit. Suffice it to say, they are a diverse group and they did not disappoint with their incisive, sometimes brutal assessments. My thanks to Dayvid Figler, Colby Williams, David Westbrook, Caleb Green, Todd Bice and Bailey Bortolin. They are all very busy lawyers, but they all believe this project is important.

I also would be remiss if I didn’t thank CJ Keeney, our extraordinary chief technical officer, who has plenty of other things to do and took the time to make sure this was formatted correctly. He is indispensable.

At the link, you will find a list of select general election contests. We asked dozens of candidates to fill out detailed questionnaires and provide writing samples. If a candidate's name is hyperlinked, you can click to see the questionnaire responses. Click the race analysis link to read our legal team's assessment of the contest and the candidates.