Jan 6, 2015 2 min read

The resignation of Washington County’s president judge, Debbie O’Dell Seneca, which became effective Monday, generated no shortage of emotion from supporters and detractors, but in the last 48 hours or so, the most pronounced sentiment was confusion.

First, it appeared a successor to O’Dell Seneca would be chosen by voters in the county. This clearly would be the best route for a new judge to be selected, and there would be a surfeit of qualified candidates.

However, as we reported Tuesday, it now appears there will not be a judicial election in the county this year. That’s because the effective date of O’Dell Seneca’s resignation fell just two days – two days – short of the 10-month vacancy required by Pennsylvania’s constitution before a judicial election can take place.

This means the next time voters will be able to select a new judge will be in 2017.

That’s too long to wait.

Short of having county voters choose a new judge, the next best option would be a gubernatorial appointment. Unless outgoing Gov. Tom Corbett attempts to fit one in to the waning days of his tenure, that would more than likely fall to Tom Wolf, who will become the commonwealth’s new chief executive Jan. 20. Wolf will obviously have quite a lot to shoulder once he arrives in Harrisburg, but choosing a new judge for Washington County is something that should be accomplished quickly.

That is, unless some loophole or another is discovered in state law that would, despite the most recent directive, open the process to voters.

Ideally, whoever is selected would be a caretaker who would fill a seat until the next election. It hardly seems fair to give the appointee the advantage of incumbency going into 2017. But, with only six judges, the county’s Court of Common Pleas lost close to 17 percent of its bench with O’Dell Seneca’s departure. Imagine if a larger county, like Allegheny or Philadelphia, had 17 percent of its judges depart? The system would still stand, but it would most assuredly be strained.

As Washington County grows, so does the caseload of its court system. It needs – and deserves – a full complement of judges.