In an editorial in the Philadelphia Daily News, PMC offers this review of the 2009 judicial elections:

Once again, judicial elections have left a bad taste in the mouth of Pennsylvania voters. It’s as if we all watched from the sidelines as some celebrities threw an expensive party, got into a fistfight and traded barbs in the tabloids the morning after. We were entertained for a few minutes and then wondered what it all had to with us.

This conclusion follows from what became a hard-fought election with candidates “going negative” in their advertising and arguing about the impact of campaign contributions.  Record sums were raised and spent, both by the candidates and third-parties, including the political parties and special interest political action committees.
It was enough to turn voters off, and it did: “There was a lot of noise leading up to Election Day, but voter turnout was a record low. In Philadelphia, it was appalling - less than 12 percent of registered voters.”
As the op-ed argues, this is a big problem, because  “choosing judges IS important, and their decisions DO affect our lives. Selecting judges deserves a process worthy of the importance of the decision.”  The solution: Merit Selection for the appellate courts.