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You’re nearly done filling out Colorado’s lengthy general election ballot but then you see all the judges to vote on. What do you do?
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All Colorado voters are asked to decide whether to retain Colorado Supreme Court and Colorado Court of Appeals judges who are up for a vote this year as well as judges in their local judicial district and county.
Unlike some other states, judges in Colorado aren’t elected. The governor appoints them based on recommendations submitted by statewide and local nominating commissions. Later the judges are evaluated by judicial performance commissions, which include lawyers and nonlawyers, to determine whether they meet performance standards.
The commissions’ findings can be found in the blue book, the state’s official voter guide, mailed to voters. They are also posted online by the Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation. The office also has short videos promoting the information available in English and Spanish.
After an initial two-year provisional term, judges are up for a retention vote every four to 10 years, depending on which court they serve on. They usually end up being retained by voters but experts say that doesn’t mean the evaluation system and retention votes are just rubber stamps on the judicial branch of government.
Thor Nelson, an attorney at Holland & Hart and the chair of the board at the Colorado Judicial Institute, an independent group that promotes equity, impartiality and public trust in state courts, said most judges who don’t meet performance standards simply step down rather than put themselves up for a vote.
The commissions evaluating judges don’t just rely on surveys of lawyers who have worked with a judge but also reach out to former jurors and people who have had cases before a judge, Nelson said.
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Danielle Kalil, the director of civil justice and the judiciary at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, said commission members, who observe judges in their courtrooms, look at judges’ temperaments and how they communicate. They also look at their rulings to determine how they reached their decisions but in an ideologically neutral way that is intended to protect judges from feeling pressured to make decisions that are popular, she said.
She said Colorado’s merit-based selection system for appointing judges is designed to produce judges who will meet performance standards.
Voters provide an important check on the judiciary by deciding whether to keep judges on the bench, she said. She urged voters not to skip that chance and to check out the evaluations.
“Don’t depend on a hunch,” she said.
Nelson said even people who don’t end up before a judge can still be influenced by how judges in the state interpret laws, since rulings can impact things like how police operate and how property disputes are resolved.
“Having the best collection of people to interpret and enforce the laws is really important,” he said.
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