Ballot Question In Upcoming Election Has PA Court Deadlocked

HARRISBURG, PA (CBS) -- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has deadlocked on whether the wording of a question that will appear on November's ballot is misleading.

The question will ask voters whether judges should be required to retire at age 75. The question does not include the fact that judges are currently required to retire at age 70.

Voters are actually being asked to decide whether to raise the mandatory retirement age by five years but they won't know that unless they're well-informed going into the voting booth.

That's why two former supreme court justices and lawyer Richard Sprague challenged the language, but the state high court split, with Justice Saylor having a personal stake in the matter at age 69, recusing himself.

The question was to have appeared on the primary ballot, phrased to make it clear voters were being asked to raise the retirement age, but republican legislators fought to pull it off and rephrase the question to its current form.