Voting on judges confuses Utahns

When Utah voters step up to the voting booth and get to the section on judges, are they making informed choices?

Lawmakers say there are indications that many voters don't have a clue when it comes to judicial retention elections, mainly because information on judges listed in the voter information guide is tedious and confusing.

With two 15-question surveys for each judge, one from attorneys and another from jurors, voters have to flip to the front of the guide at least 30 times for each judge to read the questions and then compare them to the outcome.

On Tuesday, a group of judges and lawmakers gathered in the first of a series of meetings to figure out how to better inform voters so they're not left casting votes based on emotions.

There appears to be a mentality among some when it comes to voting "yes" or "no" on judicial retentions "to throw the rascals out" said Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, one of 12 lawmakers and judges selected to be a part of the Judicial Retention Election Task Force. Among the task force members is Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham.

It is a rare coming together of two branches of government that have traditionally been at odds, and such a task force has not been seen for 25 years.

Fourth District Judge Gary Stott said he worries that voters tend to paint with a broad brush when it comes to judges and that one negative encounter with a judge biases voters against all of them. Stott said after a jury trial one man came up to him and wanted to apologize. The man told the judge he had not only voted against him in the last retention election but had told everyone he knew to do the same with all judges because of a negative experience he had with another judge who presided over his divorce. Stott said the man regretted it because he had since seen Stott preside over a trial and believed he was competent.

The judicial branch of Utah's government is the least understood by voters, mainly because so few members of the public deal with judges unless they end up in court themselves or a judge makes headlines for some action.

A recent example was a midnight-hour campaign to oust 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis from the bench after in-court video of her dressing down a man in her court made its way to the popular Internet video site "You Tube."

Lewis became only the second judge in Utah to be voted out by a majority of voters, 54 percent in her case.

Lawmakers also noted how vulnerable Utah judges are to last-minute campaigns, particularly because there is no practical way to defend themselves in the court of public opinion.