Colorado Judicial Retention Elections In 2022

Background

In a pre-election post on judicial retention elections in Colorado, I noted that the "Colorado Gazette reports:

A total of 164 judges were eligible for retention in 2022, but only 140 received evaluations and 135 chose to remain on the ballot. Judges may opt to resign or retire prior to their retention for multiple reasons, including the expectation of a negative performance evaluation.

Thus 24 judges decided not to run again before receiving evaluations from citizen's commissions and another 5 withdrew from the ballot after receiving their evaluations. 

I also noted that the system was adopted in a 1966 amendment to the Colorado State Constitution and remains a great improvement over the system in place before then."

I also predicted that 99.5% of judges facing judicial retention elections this year in Denver would be retained. 

The 2022 Judicial Retention Election Results

[Note that I have rounded down to the nearest full percentage point in all retention percentages in this post as it is easier to scan the Secretary of State's election results tables that way.]

None of them received less than 65% of the vote. Every single judge in Denver facing a retention election was retained.

Statewide 99.24% of the 132 judges facing retention elections in Colorado (that I counted in the election results, I apparently  missed three) were retained, while one county court judge in LaPlata County was not retained. Basically, my prediction, once you account for rounding errors, amounted to a prediction that either no judges or one judge would not be retained and this was correct.

There were eight Colorado Court of Appeals judge facing retention elections. Five of them were women. All of them were retained and none of them received less than a 67% retain vote. 

There were sixty-six district court (i.e. general jurisdiction trial court) judges facing retention elections. Twenty-six of them were women. All of them were retained and none of them received less than a 56% retain vote. 

There were sixty-two county court (i.e. limited jurisdiction trial court) judges facing retention elections. Thirty of them were women.  One was not retained and none of the other county court judges received less than a 60% vote to retain.

The one judge who was not retained (at least so far in the unofficial count) was LaPlata County Court Judge Ann Catherine Woods received a 49% retain vote. None of the other county court judges received less than a 60% retain vote. She resigned immediately, rather than serving out the remainder of her term. According to Colorado Politics at the link above:

In her resignation email to Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright, Woods alluded to her own missteps, as well as inaccurate perceptions of her work within the community.

"It has been a very, very challenging journey for me (some of which has been my own doing, some of which has been misinformation from small town media/word of mouth and lack of support from the 6th judicial district)," Woods wrote. "Also, because the voters have spoken and do not want me representing the community, I would like to step down as soon as possible instead of serving out the remaining term of my appointment."

Woods was one of 135 judges who stood for retention across the state this year. Citizen-led performance commissions found all 135 had met the performance standards used to evaluate judges.

At the same time, Woods was the first judge since 2010 to be non-retained despite receiving a favorable evaluation, according to the Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation.

The Sixth Judicial District's performance commission found, by 6-3, Woods met performance standards. Its narrative to voters further indicated Woods, a former public defender, had improved during her time on the bench.

However, Woods' ratings from attorneys and non-attorneys were lower than for other county court judges. Her retention also received an unusual degree of interest — 90 responses — compared to county court judges in jurisdictions with populations similar to La Plata County.

"The public still may be partially anchored on the view that Judge Woods is a pro-defense judge," the performance commission wrote.

In an email to The Durango Herald on Wednesday, Woods believed voters were "fed cherry-picked facts about a few sensationalized cases," and suggested the newspaper was responsible for disseminating misinformation.

Woods was a 2020 appointee of Gov. Jared Polis. The Herald previously reported that she emphasized rehabilitation over punishment in her sentencing. At the same time, the chief judge of the judicial district, in November 2021, effectively precluded her from setting bail for criminal defendants, after reported concerns about Woods granting bail at low amounts.

Notably, the judges who received low retention election support were mostly women. Of the 132 judges facing retention elections of whom 61 were women and 71 were men. 

Nine of the 132 judges facing retention elections received less than 61% support. Seven of those nine judges were women (11% of female judges facing retention elections), including the only judge who was not retained and all four judges who received more than 56% but less than 59% support. 

Two female trial judges (a County Court judge in Arapahoe County and a District Court judge in Weld County) and two male trial judges (both District Court judges in Pueblo) received more than 59% support but less than 62% support.

The other 123 judges (89% of female judges and 97% of male judges) received at least 63% support.

The county could judge with the least retention support who was retained (60%) was Kelly LeFave in Arapahoe County. The other sixty county court judges who were retained had at least 63% support.

At the District Court level, all sixty-six judges were retained and seven of them had retention support of 60% or less (rounding down). All other District Court judges had at least 64% support.

Five of these seven judges were women: District Judge Marla Prudek in the 4th Judicial District (El Paso and Teller Counties) received 58% support. District Court Judge Stephanie M.G. Gagliano in the 13th Judicial District (Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Philips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma counties)  received 56% support. District Court Judge Rayna Gokli McIntyre in the 17th Judicial District (Adams and Broomfield County) received 57% support. District Court Judge Kimberly B. Shutt received 56% support in the 19th Judicial District (Weld County). District Court Meghan Patrice Saleebay in the 19th Judicial District received 61% support.   

Two District Court judges receiving comparative low levels of retention support were men, both in the 10th Judicial District (Pueblo County). District Judge Amiel J. Markenson received 59% support. District Judge Thomas Flesher received 60% support.