Voters in Baltimore's suburbs have not always been kind to African-American Circuit Court judges, so the election this week of Angela M. Eaves in Harford County was a most welcome outcome. Ms. Eaves, 48, a District Court judge who earned high marks in local bar and judicial nominating reviews, was appointed to the county Circuit Court last fall. Voters elected her to a full 15-year term Tuesday - despite some injudicious partisan politics.

What occurred during the campaign was reminiscent of what happened to Judge Rodney C. Warren in Anne Arundel County in 2004. Because Judge Warren was appointed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, he was portrayed as a tool of a Democratic governor. Opponents plumbed the depths of the county's ill will toward Mr. Glendening and ousted the county's first black judge.

A similar strategy was clearly at work when Charles F. Wagner, a Bel Air attorney, circulated a photograph of Judge Eaves standing with Mr. Glendening and Gov. Martin O'Malley. The caption read: "Do you trust their judgment?" Voters were also reminded that Mr. O'Malley had recently increased taxes - as if that had anything to do with Judge Eaves' qualifications.

Such partisan attacks are familiar enough in campaigns for local, state or federal office, but judicial elections are supposed to be different. While governors do have the final say on who is appointed to the Circuit Court, candidates are first screened by an independent judicial nominating commission to determine who is most qualified for the job.

Judge Eaves passed that test; her opponents did not. Yet because Circuit Court appointees can be challenged by virtually any lawyer with minimal qualifications, Judge Eaves had to best Mr. Wagner and two other challengers in both the Democratic and Republican primaries to win her seat.

Harford County voters are to be commended for looking beyond politics, gender and race. Judge Eaves is not only the first African-American on the county's Circuit Court bench, she's the first woman as well. The fact that County Executive David R. Craig, a Republican, had recommended her appointment was probably helpful to her cause.

But the incident once again raises questions about the wisdom of having an open election for these judgeships. That's not required of District Court or Appeals Court judges. And while there was a time when black candidates found greater opportunities at the ballot box than in the appointment process, that era has come and gone.

What's left is a system that encourages partisanship and discourages diversity. Do we really want our judges to be more closely allied with political parties or to be forced to raise ever-larger sums of money from the lawyers destined to try cases before them?

In the case of Judge Eaves, voters made a good choice. But the experience of Judge Warren, Baltimore County's Judge Alexander Wright Jr., who twice lost a seat on the bench, and Howard County Judge Donna Hill Staton, who lost in 1996, still suggests reforms are needed.