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Allen County voters will find the names of no fewer than 11 sitting judges on their ballots Tuesday – but can help determine the fate of only about half of them.
Hoosiers statewide are being asked whether to retain three state Supreme Court justices, a court of appeals judge and the state tax court judge.
In addition, six Allen County judges are up for election this year – but none faces opposition, so they all will be re-elected.
Indiana’s retention system may have limited choices, but that is arguably good for justice. States with competitive elections for Supreme Court and appeals court often find that special interests seek to influence the election based on a narrow decision or type of law. Lifetime appointments without review, though, make judges completely unanswerable to virtually anyone.
Hoosiers should not decide to throw off a judge based on one decision, but the retention system does give voters the opportunity to replace a judge who has been chronically irresponsible.
Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, the Indiana justices don’t consistently follow conservative-liberal voting blocs. Of the three justices up for a yes-or-no retention vote, Theodore Boehm tends to be slightly more liberal than Chief Justice Randall Shepard or Justice Brent Dickson, particularly on criminal cases. But all the justices have proved to be independent. Boehm was appointed to the court by Evan Bayh; Shepard and Dickson by Gov. Robert Orr.
Shepard, to his credit, has taken a number of steps to make the courts statewide more open and accessible to citizens.
Thomas Fisher, the sole judge of Indiana’s Tax Court, is up for retention. Fisher is best known for his 1996 decision throwing out Indiana’s method for assessing real estate.
Carr Darden, chief judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals’ 4th District, is also up for retention.
The Indiana Bar Association surveyed its members, and the lawyers overwhelmingly favored retaining each of the judges.
Voters will also find the names of Allen County judges on their ballots, but they are all uncontested.
Circuit Court judges run on partisan ballots, and Republican incumbent Thomas Felts is unopposed.
The Superior Court judges in Allen County run on a non-partisan basis.
Those up for re-election without opposition are Stephen M. Sims of the family court division; John Surbeck and Fran Gull of the criminal division; and Dan Heath and Stan Levine of the civil division.
