Pennsylvania is one of 11 states that uses retention elections to confirm a new judicial term, and depending on where they live, voters may be asked to cast at least two judicial retention votes Nov. 7. 

Read Spotlight PA's full guide to the candidates up for Superior Court retention, the process, and why Pennsylvania voters have only ever rejected one appellate judge’s request for another 10-year term.

THE CONTEXT: Some voters will see county-level retention votes in this election (see if you're one of them here), while all voters statewide will be asked to consider additional 10-year terms for two people who sit on Superior Court: President Judge Jack Panella, elected as a Democrat in 2003, and Judge Vic Stabile, elected as a Republican in 2013.

On their records, Spotlight PA reports: 

Recent opinions from Panella include one that upheld a more than thousand-year sentence against a man convicted of long-term child molestation whose attorneys argued he had dementia; one that found people who steal money from nonprofits aren’t shielded from restitution orders; and one that vacated gun and drug charges against rapper Meek Mill.

Stabile's recent decisions include one that reinstated charges against an engineer in a deadly Amtrak crash on procedural grounds; dissented in a decision that found Uber had not met the legal bar for requiring users to waive jury trials (also on procedural grounds); and wrote an opinion upholding a misdemeanor child endangerment conviction for former Penn State President Graham Spanier in relation to Jerry Sandusky’s child abuse.