JANNEY: Informed voting on judges

I strongly believe it is your civic duty to vote. I also believe it is your civic duty as a voter to be informed on the issues in your community and know a little bit about the candidates who are running for office. But every four years, I get into the voting booth and am stumped on the question of judges.

There is so little information out there about judges. They rarely have platforms to campaign on.

So what do you do — flip a coin, close your eyes and fill in the bubble closest to where your pencil lands or leave it blank?

A new program, the Kansas Judicial Report Card, established by the Kansas Legislature in 2006 will try to give voters more information on which to base their election-day decisions.

Judges in Kansas are either elected or appointed. Voters cast ballots to retain appointed judges.

The judge selection process differs, depending on which judicial district you are in.

Judicial District 9, which includes Harvey and McPherson counties appoint and vote to retain judges, as does Marion County, which is in District 8.

Reno, Sedgwick and Butler counties elect judges. Two judges from District 9, Joe Dickinson, of Harvey County, and Carl Anderson of McPherson, will be up for retention in the November election, and three judges will be up for retention in District 8, including Michael Powers, who is based in Marion.

I have lived in counties that have used both processes, and I believe I prefer merit selection with votes to retain. I think the judicial system is the best off when there is the least amount of political pressure exerted on the system.

Justice should be about the law, experience and competence not a popularity contest.

Also up for retention on the November ballot will be four court of appeals judges and two Kansas Supreme Court judges. Although there is a chance a local resident might have personal or professional knowledge of a local district judge, most voters are not going to have intimate knowledge of an appeals or Supreme Court judge.

The Kansas Commission on Judicial Performance has been gathering information on judges. This comes in part in the form of surveys of stake holders, such as attorneys, witnesses, court staff, law enforcement officers, jurors, litigants and other judges.

The survey responses or “grades” are reported in a way any fifth grader could understand.

Survey participants are asked to rate the judges on an A, B, C, D, fail scale.

Then they are assigned a letter grade based on the average of the responses.

A summary of these reports will appear on the commission’s Web site Aug. 29.

It will include a recommendation from the commission to retain or dismiss judges who are up for retention.

I’m sure you can think of about a thousand things you’d rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon than reading judge retention reports — watching paint dry, counting ceiling tiles, alphabetically organizing your spice rack.

But this is important.

These judges hold the reins of our judicial system. They preside of over criminal cases of the most heinous of criminals, million-dollar lawsuits and hold people’s lives in their hands.

The Kansan will be running a story on the report on local judges.

I also encourage you to check out the report online at kansasjudicialperformance.org.

This November, don’t just get out the vote — get informed.

Cristina Janney is news editor at the Kansan. She can be contacted at cristina.janney@thekansan.com