Missourians will go to the polls in November to vote for high-profile offices such as president and governor and on hot-button issues like abortion access and sports betting.
But they will also have a say on the makeup of the state’s trial and appeals courts through judicial elections. Here are some of the key things to know about those races.
1. Which counties will have judges on the ballot?
All of them, although the questions that voters are asked about their judges will vary.
In the vast majority of Missouri’s 115 counties, the judges who oversee trials are selected in partisan elections. That means voters can have multiple candidates to choose from for each division (the official term for an individual courtroom), although many of the general election races are not contested.
But in six counties – the city of St. Louis and St. Louis, Greene, Platte, Clay and Jackson counties – those circuit and associate circuit judges are nominated by the governor from a panel of three candidates picked by a nonpartisan commission. At every general election, some of those judges are up for retention. That means voters are asked if that specific judge should stay on the bench – they do not run against another candidate. It’s a judicial selection process known as the Missouri plan, or the nonpartisan court plan.
The Missouri plan also covers the state’s Eastern, Western and Southern District courts of appeals and the Missouri Supreme Court. That means in some places like St. Charles and Franklin counties, voters will choose trial judges in partisan elections and then be asked whether they want to retain appeals court judges.
This year, there are 74 judges up for retention.
2. Why do some counties elect their judges and others use the nonpartisan court plan?
Beginning in the 1840s, Missouri elected all judges on partisan ballots, said Michael Wolff, a former state Supreme Court judge and former dean of the law school at St. Louis University. The nonpartisan court plan came into existence a century later through a citizen-led initiative. Counties can opt into using that method or stick with partisan elections.
“In the smaller counties, they know who the judges are,” Wolff said. “They know who's running. It's really in the bigger areas where judicial elections can be expensive. You have to go on TV and all of that. And it is much more dignified and befitting of judges to have this merit selection process in place.”
Greene County, in southwest Missouri, was the latest to adopt the nonpartisan court plan.
St. Louis County Circuit Judge Thomas Albus, who was named to the bench in 2020 and stood for retention for the first time in 2022, said he probably would not have considered becoming a judge if he had to run in a partisan election “because of my distaste for trying to raise money.”
“But the judges that are elected in St Charles and elsewhere are very fine judges, and they get to choose when they want to run,” he said. He added that it took him eight tries to be chosen to fill a judicial vacancy.
3. I’ve never stepped foot inside a courtroom. Why should I vote in judicial elections?
Courts throughout Missouri resolve thousands of cases a year, and while people may not always be satisfied with the outcome, they continue to trust the process, said Albus.
“If you think the courts are not interfering in your life and your business, then I would suggest that means that you’re satisfied with the courts and it would be appropriate to vote yes to retain these judges that are helping to make them work,” he said.
The naysayers, Albus added, will always take the time to vote.
Judges who stand for retention must get 50% support to remain on the bench. In the 84 years that the nonpartisan court plan has been in effect, voters have failed to retain just four judges – in 1942, 1992 and 2016.
4. I want to learn more about the judges on my ballot. Where can I look?
Judges who are selected under the nonpartisan court plan and therefore stand for retention are reviewed by a panel that includes attorneys, judges and non-lawyers. Each judge provides the commission with examples of their written work, like a court order or an opinion. Jurors and attorneys who appear in front of the judges also fill out surveys.
This year, the Judicial Performance Review Committee found that all 74 judges standing for retention substantially met the performance review standards. Reviews of individual judges can be found online.
There is no central location to find information on judges who are running in partisan races.
