INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The president of the organization that represents Indy lawyers on Tuesday said every judge up for retention has the skill and the temperament necessary for another term.
Marion County voters this fall will see the names of 18 Marion County circuit court judges on their ballots. Voters will have to decide whether each one should remain on the bench in a mechanism known as a retention election. Unlike traditional partisan elections, which select judges in most counties, Marion County judges are nominated by a commission and then subjected to regular retention votes, a process first approved in 2018.
Earlier this year, the Indianapolis Bar Association surveyed its members about their interactions with each judge and asked whether each one should keep their jobs. Association President David Duncan said the survey is a good resource for members of the general public, most of whom never interact with their judges.
“What the Indianapolis Bar Association attempts to do by conducting these surveys and sharing the results with the public is inform the public on the experiences and interaction that our individual members have with these judges so that you can get a sense of what the judge’s temperament is like and whether or not they are fit to be up for office and retained as a judge in Marion County,” he said.
The association’s members endorsed all 18 judges for retention. Not all survey respondents endorsed the same judges. The share voting to recommend retention ranged from 96 percent to 67 percent, depending on the judge. Duncan said voters shouldn’t worry about the number of lawyers who voted to endorse.
“The final result is that even the lowest judge received a favorable recommendation for retention by 67.8 percent,” he said. “That’s not unlike any other survey results that we got when there was a (partisan) electoral process.”
Judges in retention elections are not permitted to campaign or to comment on their election.
The Marion County retention election is separate from the retention election for the Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals. Officials with the Indiana State Bar Association said they will make retention recommendations in those elections in early October.
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