Luzerne County Judge Thomas Burke may be poised to finish the remaining three years of his term.
Voter passage of a state constitution amendment that would increase the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75 appeared possible as of press time at midnight, with 92.51 percent of voting districts reported.
The unofficial results were still too close to call at that time, when 50.8 percent of voters, or 2.12 million, were in support of the change and 49.2 percent, or 2.05 million, opposed it.
Burke has said he will respect the will of voters. He won a 10-year retention term in 2009, expecting to be forced to retire the end of this year because he turns 70 next month.
“I would be highly honored to continue to serve,” Burke said Tuesday afternoon.
The retirement age increase applies to all judges and justices in the state, including those serving the county Courts of Common Pleas.
Supporters argued courts will benefit from keeping more experienced judges on the bench full-time. Judges can switch to senior status after mandatory retirement, but they must remain part-time.
Opponents maintained a retirement age of 70 promotes the election of new judges and reduces the possibility an unfit judge would remain on the bench too long.
The ballot question has generated controversy over its wording.
A state decision to move the question to the November ballot came too late to remove the question from the April 26 primary election ballot. The results didn’t count in the primary.
State legislators changed the question wording for Tuesday’s election on the premise the primary version was too clunky. Critics said the new wording was misleading because the question no longer stated that judges currently must retire at age 70, leading some voters to mistakenly believe they were imposing a mandatory retirement age for the first time.
