This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The November election is fast approaching, and voters will soon be confronting the puzzling list of judges on the ballot. Many will simply skip that part of the ballot. Why vote on judges if you know nothing about them?
Citizens are asked to vote on judges as a way of ensuring that judges are held accountable to the public. The governor appoints the judges, the Senate confirms them, and then the public periodically weighs in and decides whether or not the judges should be given an additional term of office. This is called a retention election and, for it to be meaningful, the voters must be informed. For the voters to be informed, good information must be available to them.
The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, of which I am a member, provides this information at http://www.judges.utah.gov and in the Voter Information Pamphlet, which can be requested by calling the Lieutenant Governor's Office at 801-538-1041. The commission is an independent body that functions apart from the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive branches of government.
For the 2014 election, the commission evaluated 54 full-time judges. Of those judges, it gave unanimous "do not retain" recommendations to two judges. It gave less-than-unanimous "retain" votes to three additional judges. The remaining 49 judges passed all standards with flying colors, and the commission unanimously recommended all of them for retention. Utah is fortunate in that so many highly skilled attorneys aspire to serve in the state judiciary.
The judicial evaluations conducted by the commission are comprehensive. In his 2014 State of the Judiciary address, Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant of the Utah Supreme Court characterized the evaluation of Utah's judges by an independent commission as "the most formal, involved, detailed and transparent evaluation of any public servant, at any level of government." Attorneys, court staff, and jurors all complete surveys about judges before whom they appear. Additionally, trained citizens sit in courtrooms around the state and then complete reports documenting their observations. The public can also submit comments about any courtroom proceeding in which they've been involved. Judges must meet time standards and ethical standards; and they must complete annual judicial education requirements.
The commission considers all this information before deciding whether or not to recommend a judge for an additional term of office. Once the commission issues its final reports to the judiciary, but before the reports are made public, each judge can decide whether or not to file for the next election. Of the 54 fulltime judges evaluated by the commission this year, 47 have filed for the November election. By law, their reports are all available to the public. For those who chose not to run, their reports by law became protected records and are not available to the public.
Does the system work? The commission thinks so. Utah has a judiciary of which it can be justly proud. And you, the public, have the information you need to cast an informed vote.
This year, go to http://www.judges.utah.gov . Know your judges. Then finish the ballot.
Diana Allison lives in Ogden and is a citizen representative and member of the executive committee for the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.