BY AJ TRAGER
DETROIT – Michigan's Aug. 2 primary election is one week away, but with so little media coverage are voters prepared for the down ticket races?
The primary election often has low media coverage and even lower voter turn out. This election season is especially challenging as both candidates for the Presidential race dominate media coverage, leaving voters with little information about down ballot races.
Unlike other races on the primary ballot, there are over a dozen candidates for judge in the Third Circuit Court. It is the largest circuit court in Michigan, with 58 judges and three operating divisions. The Third Circuit Court has jurisdiction over civil, criminal, and family matters arising in the County of Wayne. Kelly Ann Ramsey shares her candidacy with 21 others seeking one of the four available slots on the Nov. 8 ballot. She says she is the most qualified.
"In my courtroom everyone got homework. Everyone was expected to make and keep promises. And everyone was held accountable," Ramsey told BTL.
In 2012 Ramsey ran for the same seat. After having won in the primary, she was defeated in the general election with 15.52 percent of the vote. Ramsey is hoping this cycle will make her a winner in both the primary and general election.
She points out the amount of candidates makes this year's primary race complicated. Many voters look to voter guides, endorsements and professional ratings to help them with their candidate choice.
"Way to often citizens – the public – will vote on name recognition alone and name recognition does not parallel experience, the credentials that you need to be a judicial officer, such as integrity and hard work. And that is troubling," she said.
Unlike 2012 where voters could turn to endorsements and questionnaires to help them with their decision, this primary season has provided little in the way of help. This year primary voters can turn to a voter guide developed by the League of Women Voters of Michigan.
"There hasn't been a big vetting of us this time and I'm speculating that it is the volume. We all had to get the requisite amount of signatures on the ballot. I sought out most of my own," Ramsey said.
Four years ago Ramsey received a questionnaire from Equality Michigan. They asked Ramsey, and other candidates, what their opinions were of the LGBT community, where they stood on the issue of marriage equality, if they were in favor of extending legal protections to LGBT Michigan residents and how they felt about LGBT adoption.
For Ramsey, those issues were a no brainer. She's an ally of the LGBT community.
"We could solve the whole set of problems, whether it is happening with Black Lives Matter or the LGBT community, if we didn't need to discuss race, creed or sexuality and gender at all. It is what it is and if we respected people as they are, none of this would matter. That's what I preached in my courtroom," she said.
Wayne County is one of the busiest courts in the nation, and it's a county Ramsey knows well. She's worked for the county for the majority of the last 23 years and believes that she is the candidate with the most experience in this race.
"Technically judges are there to interpret the exact language of the law, not put their own spin on it," she said. "Therein lies how important this race is."
"Judges need to be chosen based on their experience and their credentials. That's it. That's the only thing that has weight in my opinion," she continued.
Ramsey is the daughter of a Detroit police officer and a social worker and has over 23 years working within the Wayne County judicial system as a referee of the Third Circuit Court, Family Division-Juvenile Section. She has over five years service as a Wayne County assistant prosecutor.
As a teen Ramsey would accompany her father to the courthouse and quietly sit in the back of the courtroom. There she learned about the law and how it shapes a community. She saw first hand how judicial judgements impact lives.
Ramsey has focused her career on children and working to improve their lives. She has seen how disparities and fiscal and social disadvantages can effect underserved populations such as homeless youth, where 40 percent identify as LGBT, and youth struggling in the foster care system.
"Children deserve to live in a safe, suitable, loving, crime-free environment. Children deserve that and they're not being provided that. When children are struggling to survive its hard to concentrate on your algebra, it's hard to be a good student," she said.
Ramsey lost both of her parents relatively young and believes that she was a much better referee because she could understand the loss of a parent, and how that can effect a youth. She wants to see mindsets change and focus on the betterment of youth.
"We are not putting our children in a society that allows them to dream. We need to encourage our youth at the earliest age possible and teach them that they must understand that by working hard at a goal they can achieve the seemingly impossible," Ramsey said.
Ramsey has received a rating of "Well Qualified" from the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and has received endorsements from 18 judges including former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly.
The Michigan primary election takes place on Aug. 2. To find out where the local polling place is visit https://webapps.sos.state.mi.us/MVIC/votersearch.aspx.
Find out more about Ramsey at http://kellyannramseyforjudge.org/.
