[As originally posted at Comments St. Louis by Travis Reems]
An often forgotten portion of the upcoming ballot is toward the end, just before the propositions and constitutional amendments–the retention of Circuit Court Judges.
For those unfamiliar with the court system in the state of Missouri, every county, and the City of St. Louis (not being within a county) is contained within one of the state's 45 Circuit Courts. Many lesser populated counties are grouped together within circuits, and the larger ones, such as the City of St. Louis, are circuits unto themselves. All circuits elect the judges of the Circuit Courts, with the exception of Jackson County's 16th Circuit, which comprises most of urban Kansas City, the City of St. Louis' 22nd Circuit and St. Louis County's 21st Circuit.
Under the non-partisan court plan, the 16th, 21st and 22nd Circuit Court Judges, and Associate Judges, and the state Supreme Court's Judges are all appointed. The non-partisan court plan is aimed at removing politics from the judicial system. And, as we observe in the highly partisan and often very nasty judicial elections in Illinois, it might just be a good thing. We the governed are allowed a voice in the retention of the judges, however.
On the November 4th ballot in the City of St. Louis for retention are the following judges: Thomas C. Grady, David L. Dowd, Julian L. Bush, John L. Riley, Steven R. Ohmer, Timothy J. Wilson and Calea Stovall-Reid, Associate Circuit Judge.
Some voters decide that since they have no information about the judges on the ballot for retention, to vote against the entire slate. It is an unfortunate side-effect of the non-partisan court plan that the voters are given such little information about the judges. But that is not an adequate reason to vote against the entire slate.
Other than my experience as a juror in Judge Tim Wilson's court, I do not know any of the judges. But, based on the information presented at the Missouri Bar's website (each of the links associated with the judges' names), I support the retention of all of the above, and hope you will as well.
that in St. Louis COUNTY the Missouri Bar recommends that one judge (Judge Hood) NOT be retained. They recommend that the remainder of the judges that St. Louis County is voting on should be retained. So if you are a St. Louis County resident take this into account when making decisions on judges.
I know nothing about Judge Hood and have had no experience with him. Here is the Missouri Bar’s summary.
it helps with a difficult part of the ballot for many such as myself who are not familiar with these judges. The Bar Association cite noted in the 1st comment is also a useful resource.