Broken: The merit retention system

This past fall's kerfuffle over merit retention for justices of the Florida Supreme Court was quite confusing to most observers. Those against retaining the justices noted several past legal decisions by the three justices as reasons to not retain them. Those in favor of retaining the justices listed positives about the candidates but mostly were appalled at the alleged attack on the judicial system. They were quick to point out that two of the justices were women, one of whom was black. I am not sure there was a more irrelevant reason for voting for or against a justice but this group played the gender and race cards almost from the start.