Retention elections rarely remove judges because voters lack information about them
Evidence
Critics have charged that, in practice, retention elections eliminate judicial accountability altogether. Several criticisms leveled against judicial elections in general apply with particular force to retention elections. Not many voters bother to cast ballots in retention elections. Without electoral competition, incumbents have historically enjoyed an immense advantage. From 1964 to 2006, in only 56 of 6,306 retention elections were judges not retained—less than 1 percent of all those seeking reelection—and the average vote for incumbents during this period averaged greater than 70 percent. Often voters lack even rudimentary information about the incumbent judge; for example, more than half the voters in a Wyoming retention election admitted that they knew nothing at all about any of the candidates for retention. Because voters in retention elections typically support incumbents unless they have a basis for opposing them, this lack of information virtually guarantees that judges will be returned to office. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 436
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 436
- XREF: connects to: Impeachment rarely removes judges, so states added elections and term limits. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 376; Low-information voters fall back on party, name recognition, endorsements, or incumbency in judicial races — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 575; Retention defeats require organized opposition campaigns against judges — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 609 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Low-information voters fall back on party, name recognition, endorsements, or incumbency in judicial races
#expands(0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 575 - Retention defeats require organized opposition campaigns against judges
#qualifies(0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 609 - Voter backlash can remove judges who sit on cases involving their benefactors
#qualifies(0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 584 - Elected judges face re-election pressure that can push decisions away from law
#qualifies(0.70) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 780