On The Ballot: Voters to Decide on Retention of 17 Judges in November

Voters in Jackson County will decide on several issues on November 6 th , including whether to retain 17 judges from the Jackson County Circuit Court, Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District, and the Supreme Court of Missouri.

Missouri uses a constitutional merit system known as the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan to select its appellate judges and trial-level judges in the City of St. Louis and Clay, Greene, Jackson, Platte, and St. Louis counties. In other parts of the state, trial-level judges seek election in partisan races.

Before becoming a judge, all nonpartisan judges are screened by a nominating commission whose members include lawyers, nonlawyers and a judge. The commission selects the three best candidates and forwards their names to the governor, who chooses one candidate to fill the position. After their first year on the bench and again at the end of each term, nonpartisan judges must run in retention elections. In retention elections the ballot reads: “Shall Judge X be retained?” To be retained, each merit-selected judge must receive a simple majority.

The Missouri Judicial Performance Review Committee has provided Missouri voters with their performance findings for 59 nonpartisan judges who will be up for retention in the Nov. 6, 2018, general election.

“We want to make sure the people of Missouri have good judges who are fair, impartial and skilled,” Dale Doerhoff, chair of the statewide committee said. “Our independent committee provides voters with extensive, objective information about the performance of our judges up for retention to help them make informed decisions about our judges.”

The committee considers a variety of information about each judge, including lawyers’ ratings of judges, jurors’ ratings of some trial judges, and written opinions from judges.

Jurors were asked a series of 10 questions about the judge’s courtroom conduct. For instance: Did the judge clearly explain the legal issues of the case? Did the judge appear to be free from bias? Did the judge appear to be well-prepared for the case?

The lawyers’ survey focused on key traits that judges need to render justice effectively and fairly. Circuit and associate circuit judges were rated in 19 areas, including a wide range of observable skills and traits, such as treating people fairly, competency in the law and writing clear opinions.

Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges were rated on a different set of criteria, as they decide cases that are appealed because of possible legal errors, either procedural or through misinterpretations of the law. These judges were rated on areas such as whether their opinions were clearly written, whether they adequately explained the basis of the court’s decision and whether they issued opinions in a timely manner.

“These extensive reviews help Missouri voters determine whether or not the judges up for retention are meeting the expectations of the public and lawyers,” Doerhoff said.

According to Doerhoff, the committee’s work is important because it helps make sure the people of Missouri have good judges who substantially meet overall judicial performance standards. He added that the performance reviews have had a positive impact on the number of people who vote in retention elections.

“The committee’s work to educate voters about the performance of our judges has led to increased voter participation in judicial retention elections since 2008 because when voters feel more informed, they are more likely to vote,” Doerhoff said.

Jackson County voters will be asked to vote whether the following judges shall be retained for new terms on November 6 th :

Judges W. Brent Powell and Mary R. Russell are up for retention in the Supreme Court of Missouri. Both received 100% scores by the judicial performance review committee.

90%, of the committee voted Judge Edward R. Ardini, Jr., of the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District, substantially meets overall judicial performance standards.

All but two of the judges up for retention in Jackson County Circuit Court received perfect scores. Judge Justine E. Del Muro received a score of 90% and Judge Mark Anthony Styles, Jr. received a 95% score.

For more information about the judges up for retention in the November election, visit http:// www.yourmissourijudges.org/ judges/circuit/jackson-county/.