Utah judicial elections, 2014

Utah judicial elections, 2014
Overview
Total candidates:	54
Primary candidates:	0
General election candidates:	54
Competition - general election
Percent retention:	100%

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The Utah judicial elections were retention elections, where voters decided whether or not to keep judges in office for new terms. All of the judges in the 2014 elections were retained.

Election dates

• March 20: Filing deadline
• November 4: Election

In addition to candidate lists, this page includes information about how the state's judicial elections work, as well as articles about noteworthy news in races across the state.

Retentions

The following judges stood for retention in 2014. In such elections, the incumbent judge is not being evaluated against an opponent. Rather, he or she simply receives votes of "yes" to retain or "no", do not retain.

Appellate courts

Court	Judge	Votes
Click the arrows in the column headings to sort columns alphabetically.
Utah Supreme Court	Christine Durham	77.8%A
Utah Court of Appeals	Gregory Orme	76.6%A
Utah Court of Appeals	J. Frederic Voros Jr.	75.1%A
Utah Court of Appeals	James Z. Davis
Utah Supreme Court	Matthew Durrant	77.6%A
Utah Court of Appeals	Michele Christiansen	77.0%A
Utah Court of Appeals	Stephen L. Roth	76.7%A
Utah Supreme Court	Thomas Rex Lee	75.5%A

Trial courts

Court	Judge	Votes
Click the arrows in the column headings to sort columns alphabetically.
Utah Third Judicial District	Andrew H. Stone	74.8%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Charlene Barlow	75.3%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Christine S. Decker	76.9%A
Utah Eighth Judicial District	Clark McClellan	81.1%A
Utah Second Judicial District	David R. Hamilton	78.0%A
Utah Supreme Court	Deno Himonas	71.2%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Elizabeth A. Hruby-Mills	75.1%A
Utah Fourth Judicial District	James R. Taylor	80.2%A
Utah Second Judicial District	Jeffrey J. Noland	78.9%A
Utah Fifth Judicial District	John J. Walton	81.6%A
Utah Second Judicial District	John R. Morris	73.1%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Julie Lund	76.6%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Katherine Bernards-Goodman	74.4%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Keith A. Kelly	73.6%A
Utah Seventh Judicial District	Lyle R. Anderson	73.5%A
Utah Fourth Judicial District	Lynn W. Davis	80.8%A
Utah Fourth Judicial District	M. James Brady	80.9%A
Utah Seventh Judicial District	Mary Manley	78.0%A
Utah Second Judicial District	Michelle E. Heward	79.9%A
Utah Second Judicial District	Noel S. Hyde	78.0%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Paul Maughan	73.1%A
Utah Second Judicial District	Robert J. Dale	77.9%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Robert W. Adkins	74.4%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Ryan M. Harris	74.7%A
Utah Fourth Judicial District	Samuel D. McVey	79.9%A
Utah Seventh Judicial District	Scott N. Johansen	76.2%A
Utah Second Judicial District	Sherene T. Dillon	79.1%A
Utah Second Judicial District	Thomas L. Kay	76.1%A
Utah Fourth Judicial District	Thomas L. Low	80.5%A
Utah First Judicial District	Thomas Willmore	81.2%A
Utah Third Judicial District	Todd M. Shaughnessy	74.2%A
Utah Sixth Judicial District	Wallace A. Lee	78.9%A

Process

Judges in Utah stand in retention elections that occur during the November general election. In retention elections, judges do not compete against another candidate. Instead, voters are given a "yes" or "no" choice whether to keep the judge in office for another term. If the candidate receives more yes votes than no votes, he or she is successfully retained. If not, the candidate is not retained, and there will be a vacancy in that court effective the first Monday in January following the election.

Noteworthy events

The following articles were current as of the dates listed.

All judges recommended for retention in Utah July 3, 2014

Click for story→

See also: JP Election Brief: Election laws challenged The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission released their retention reports for the 2014 elections in July. These reports were recommendations on whether or not a judge should be retained by voters to a new term. The evaluation period for judges up for retention was in the month of June. All judges that were up for retention in 2014 were recommended to be retained. Every judge except one got unanimous votes for a positive recommendation. Judge David C. Marx, a justice court judge in the First Judicial District, was the only candidate who received any negative votes. Even so, his score was positive--10 votes for retention, and 3 against. Each report detailed the judge's professional experience and included scores from a survey that was given out to individuals with prior interactions with the judge. In the survey, there was a section asking respondents to choose adjectives from a list that describe the judge. The report shows the percent of positive adjectives that were chosen, and how many times each specific adjective was picked. The full evaluations can be found on the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission's website.

Crowded races and the question of marriage licenses March 27, 2014

Click for story→

See also: JP Election Brief: Women successful in judicial races as incumbents face challengers Judges in Utah must participate in retention elections if they wish to serve another term. The filing deadline for the 2014 elections was on March 20, and the election occurred on November 4. The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission performs and publishes evaluations of judges running for retention prior to each election. Established in 2008, the commission has a courtroom observation program and seeks input from attorneys, jurors and court staff who are familiar with the judge. The survey aims to capture a judge's performance in three main areas: legal ability, judicial temperament and integrity and administrative performance. From the information collected, the commission creates a report on each judge and votes on whether to recommend them for retention. This year, three justices of the Utah Supreme Court were up for retention, including Chief Justice Matthew Durrant. The other two were Christine Durham, a supreme court justice since 1982, and Thomas Rex Lee, who was appointed in 2010. In addition, 5 out of 7 Utah Court of Appeals judges were up for retention, as well as 33 district and juvenile court judges.

See also

• Utah judicial elections
• Judicial selection in Utah

External links

Suggest a link

• Utah Elections website