City Council's Municipal Judge Problem

Elections are over and in addition to council having to deal with the pandemic, they have another problem on their hands that normally would get a lot of attention. 

If you recall, there was a judicial seat up for the municipal courts on the ballot. The seat was won by Lillian Blancas, who defeated the incumbent judge that was appointed to fill the seat and another candidate.

She was in a run-off with Enrique Holguin after earning about 40% of the vote in the general election.

Unfortunately - she lost her battle with COVID-19 before election day, but still won the election despite not campaigning during the run-off due to her battle with the virus. 

That puts city council in a really awkward position because now they have to choose someone to fill the seat for the remainder of the term - which is the entire term. 

I know, its a terrible situation because there are some complications. I know what you're thinking. There are two solutions - one would be to just keep the incumbent in place for the sake of continuity. Who knows how the election would've turned out if Blancas wasn't in the race, but you can't get around the fact that the incumbent came in last. 

You can't give it to Holguin because once again, you don't know what the result of the race would've been if the choice was just between Holguin and the incumbent. Obviously, the ideal (and most fair) situation is to leave the seat vacant until the next nearest election and let the voters have their say - but thats now how it works at the city. 

Simply put - the city can't pick winners and losers.

So the easiest - and most fair - move for the city is simple. 

Pick someone else. 

City Council can find a retired judge or one close to retirement and select them to fulfill the term. Then next election cycle the voters can select the judge. Its the best way to take the politics out of the decision and still let voters pick the judge for that seat later.