Merit selection’s designers expected retention elections to secure most judges’ tenure.

Evidence

Those who originated merit selection expected that retention elections, while accommodating demands for popular involvement and serving to remove judges who had committed gross abuses, would guarantee long tenure for most judges. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 435

Categorization

• QUESTION: Did empirical reality match the originators’ expectation that retention elections would rarely remove sitting judges — or did contentious retention campaigns later unseat judges?
• XREF: connects to: Retention defeats require organized opposition campaigns against judges — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 609

Broader Connections

• Retention defeats require organized opposition campaigns against judges #expands (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 609