The SC Constitution requires legislators to elect judges on the record. Instead, votes are kept secret through a little-known verbal commitment process that happens prior to the official vote. Secret elections:
Deprive you the citizen of the right to know how your Rep and Senator are voting
Encourages deal-making and nepotism
Hides conflicts of interest between attorney-legislators and judges
I'm done with secret judicial elections. It's time to end them now, so in a letter today to House and Senate leadership, I vowed to make the current election process as painful as possible until this terrible practice is ended.
For context, watch this video which I posted following the February 2019 judicial election:
For more information on how South Carolina legislature elects judges, read my May 2016 exposé describing the process and its results below.