There are only two states in the nation that elect appellate judges in partisan voting districts, a 50-state review conducted by Spotlight PA and Votebeat has found, and Pennsylvania may become the third.

Illinois and Louisiana already have setups similar to a plan championed by Rep. Russ Diamond (R., Lebanon), a far-right member of the state legislature. Diamond's proposal would amend the Pennsylvania Constitution and could be on the ballot in May.

Experts said similar systems increased partisan campaign fights and gave special interests and dark money groups more of a foothold to affect the outcome of races. In Illinois, for example, a judge's campaign was backed by State Farm as the insurance company was trying to get a billion-dollar verdict overturned. 

THE CONTEXT: When appellate judges are elected in partisan districts instead of by voters statewide, they represent smaller areas that are more politically homogeneous.

Republicans who support the amendment contend that electing judges by district will lead to more geographic representation. Rural voters are not adequately represented on the bench, they say, because a majority of the 31 appellate judges hail from Democrat-heavy Philadelphia and Allegheny County.

Jane Cutler Greenspan, a retired Democratic Supreme Court justice from Philadelphia, said she represented the entire state during her time on the bench, not just the city. But if judges are elected by only a small group of voters? “You’ll have justices not considering other districts," she said.