Washington voters have five choices to make for the Washington Supreme Court before Election Day Tuesday, and the outcome could shape how the state handles some of its most contested laws. The races are nonpartisan, the names on the ballot do not carry party labels, and the people casting votes are being asked to decide which justices they trust on issues that now reach into daily life.
That is why the search for Ian Birk Vs Sean O'donnell lands now, not later. Voters are choosing at a moment when the court is increasingly important, and Todd Myers said, “Increasingly, the Supreme Court is playing a role in our daily lives, more than it used to.” He argued that people should pay close attention to each candidate’s bias before they vote.
Myers pointed to a September decision in which the Washington Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved natural gas initiative from 2024. He said the court found a technicality and overruled the initiative, adding that voters will have to live with the consequences of that decision. For him, that case is the clearest reason the five contests matter: he sees the current justices as biased against letting people express their vote through initiatives, while the challengers are, in his view, more deferential to voters and the will of the people.
Courtney Normand sees the same election through a different lens. She said, “We are really watching this election with bated breath,” because Washington has passed laws protecting bodily autonomy, rights, and freedoms that she believes could face challenges tied to reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and voting rights. Normand warned that voters should not become complacent about those protections, especially with so much happening at the federal level.
She also said the ballot’s low-profile nature is part of the problem. In 2024, she said, 1 in 5 voters skipped the Supreme Court race on the ballot, a sign that many were not sure who to support. That is the friction at the center of these races: one side sees a court that must defend existing rights and keep laws standing, while the other sees a court that has strayed too far from voters’ intent. With Election Day Tuesday, the immediate task for Washington voters is not to wait for the next court fight. It is to do the research now, because five choices on the Supreme Court ballot could decide how the state’s laws hold up next.
