So why is voter turnout so low?
1. Tuesday voting. It's a work day. People have to work. They aren't going to skip work (and maybe jeopardizing their food and shelter) just to go vote.
2. They're angry and apathetic. People vote for change candidates and people that promise to disrupt Washington. What does that tell you?
People don't like their choices. They feel like the candidates barely (if at all) represent them or their interests. They disapprove of Congress and they have little confidence in government (and have on both points for quite a while).
So some of them decide to stay home instead.
For 1, we have mail-in ballots and early voting. And for 2, it really doesn't matter how easy you make it to vote. That's not the problem.
In New York, your employer has to pay you for two hours to go vote. http://www.elections.ny.gov/nysboe/elections/attentionemploy...
Sadly there seems to be zero information about judges on the ballot. Except one guy in my district who was added to the ballot by mistake; he doesn't want to be a judge, and isn't qualified. He was nominated accidentally because he has the same name as a prominent lawyer, who also doesn't want to be a judge.
Worst form of government except for all the others...
In Colorado, for the past 30-or-so years, there's a "State Commission on Judicial Performance" and they review the judges and it's added to the voter booklet. They put it online: http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/review.cfm?year=2...
And an example of one of their reviews: http://www.coloradojudicialperformance.gov/retention.cfm?ret...
It's not perfect.. they recommend all of the judges be retained. No matter how bad they are. So you have to ignore that, and read the review which seems more informative (IMO at least).
In this light, there is very good reason to recommend that judges be retained; as having judges be worried about retention causes real problems for our judicial system.
* Voting isn't easy * Lack of candidate variety or genuine difference in candidates voters have information about on the ballot (two-party system is a problem) * Lack of responsiveness from elected officials (vote doesn't matter) * Vote tabulation is opaque and at best suspect (electronic voting, vote-by-mail, and other schemes hide the counts--they simply cannot be trusted, at all) * Little or no voter education efforts
(Albeit a juvenile one.)