Colorado judicial elections, 2014

Colorado judicial elections, 2014
Overview
Total candidates:	146
General election candidates:	146
Competition - general election
Percent retention:	100%

2015 → ← 2013
Judicial Elections
Judicial elections, 2014
Judicial election dates
Candidates by state
Supreme court elections

The 2014 Colorado judicial elections consisted solely of retention elections. Colorado is one of only six states in which retentions are the only type of judicial election.

Election dates

• August 4: Filing deadline
• November 4: Election

Retentions

The following judges stood for retention in the general election. In retention 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.
Colorado Court of Appeals	Alan Loeb	68.9%A
Colorado Supreme Court	Brian Boatright	68.6%A
Colorado Supreme Court	Monica Márquez	67.8%A
Colorado Court of Appeals	Terry Fox	66.4%A

Trial courts

Court	Judge	Votes
Click the arrows in the column headings to sort columns alphabetically.
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	Alan B. Jones	74.2%A
Broomfield County Court, Colorado	Amy Bockman	75.6%A
Colorado 20th Judicial District	Andrew Macdonald	76.9%A
Colorado First Judicial District	Ann Gail Meinster	68.8%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Ann Rotolo	69.0%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Barbara Hughes	64.5%A
Grand County Court, Colorado	Ben McClelland	46.8%A
Montrose County Court, Colorado	Bennett A. Morris	65.9%A
Colorado 21st Judicial District	Brian Flynn	68.9%A
Park County Court, Colorado	Brian Green	71.1%A
Adams County Court, Colorado	Brian N. Bowen	63.7%A
Denver County Court, Colorado	Brian T. Campbell	74.6%A
Las Animas County Court, Colorado	Bruce Billings	71.5%A
Mesa County Court, Colorado	Bruce R. Raaum	69.1%A
Adams County Court, Colorado	Byron Lynn Howell	60.3%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Charles M. Pratt	68.8%A
Weld County Court, Colorado	Charles Unfug	63.9%A
Arapahoe County Court, Colorado	Cheryl Rowles-Stokes	63.9%A
Colorado First Judicial District	Chris Zenisek	67.6%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Christopher E. Acker	56.7%A
Jackson County Court, Colorado	Cindy Lu Wilson	79.2%A
Denver County Court, Colorado	Clarisse Gonzales	75.9%A
Colorado 17th Judicial District	Craig Welling	65.1%A
Arapahoe County Court, Colorado	Dana Murray	72.4%A
Weld County Court, Colorado	Dana Nichols	65.2%A
Alamosa County Court, Colorado	Daniel A. Walzl	72.6%A
Arapahoe County Court, Colorado	Darren Vahle	69.5%A
Colorado 21st Judicial District	David A. Bottger	67.4%A
Boulder County Court, Colorado	David Archuleta	79.3%A
Pueblo County Court, Colorado	David Lobato	72.0%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	David Prince	71.4%A
Colorado 7th Judicial District	David S. Westfall	82.4%A
Colorado 11th Judicial District	David Thorson	66.0%A
Baca County Court, Colorado	Debra Gunkel	76.1%A
Colorado 9th Judicial District	Denise Lynch	75.3%A
Adams County Court, Colorado	Dianna Roybal	60.5%A
Denver County Court, Colorado	Dianne Briscoe	58.1%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Douglas J. Miles	70.7%A
Otero County Court, Colorado	Douglas R. Manley	76.4%A
Colorado 13th Judicial District	Douglas R. Vannoy	69.5%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Edward Colt	69.7%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	Elizabeth Anne Starrs	74.7%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Elizabeth B. Volz	60.5%A
Denver Probate Court	Elizabeth Leith	74.9%A
Pitkin County Court, Colorado	Erin Fernandez-Ely	88.7%A
Colorado 17th Judicial District	Francis C. Wasserman	63.6%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Francis Stephen Collins	61.7%A
Colorado 5th Judicial District	Frederick W. Gannett	74.9%A
Kiowa County Court, Colorado	Gary Davis (Colorado)	80.0%A
Cheyenne County Court, Colorado	Gerald Keefe	79.8%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Gerald Rafferty	70.0%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Greg Werner	67.9%A
Colorado 20th Judicial District	Ingrid S. Bakke	79.0%A
Colorado 7th Judicial District	J. Steven Patrick	60.9%A
Denver County Court, Colorado	James B. Breese	73.9%A
Routt County Court, Colorado	James H. Garrecht	85.5%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Jann Patrice DuBois	70.5%A
Jefferson County Court, Colorado	Jean Woodford	66.8%A
Montezuma County Court, Colorado	JenniLynn E. Lawrence	74.2%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	John E. Elliff	73.8%A
Colorado 17th Judicial District	John E. Popovich, Jr.	66.4%A
Weld County Court, Colorado	John Joseph Briggs	68.4%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	John L. Wheeler	67.6%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	John W. Madden IV	65.5%A
Denver County Court, Colorado	Johnny C. Barajas	73.8%A
Garfield County Court, Colorado	Jonathan Bruce Pototsky	75.6%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Jonathan L. Walker	68.6%A
Colorado 20th Judicial District	Judith LaBuda	71.1%A
Montrose County Court, Colorado	Julie J. Huffman	64.7%A
Colorado 8th Judicial District	Julie Kunce Field	70.5%A
Boulder County Court, Colorado	Karolyn Moore	60.8%A
Colorado 13th Judicial District	Kevin L. Hoyer	70.7%A
Costilla County Court, Colorado	Kimberly L. Wood	73.6%A
Prowers County Court, Colorado	Larry E. Stutler	82.4%A
Rio Blanco County Court, Colorado	Laurie Noble	79.8%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Lawrence Martin	72.5%A
Douglas County Court, Colorado	Lawrence R. Bowling	70.9%A
Colorado First Judicial District	Lily Oeffler	69.6%A
Teller County Court, Colorado	Linda Billings-Vela	72.2%A
Colorado 19th Judicial District	Marcelo Kopcow	66.7%A
Colorado First Judicial District	Margie Enquist	66.8%A
Colorado 20th Judicial District	Maria Berkenkotter	78.9%A
Colorado 17th Judicial District	Mark D. Warner	66.4%A
Colorado 5th Judicial District	Mark Duncan Thompson	77.5%A
Jefferson County Court, Colorado	Mark Marrow Randall	66.8%A
La Plata County Court, Colorado	Martha T. Minot	77.6%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	Martin F. Egelhoff	70.3%A
Colorado 7th Judicial District	Mary Deganhart	64.2%A
Adams County Court, Colorado	Michael A. Cox	65.7%A
Colorado Twelfth Judicial District	Michael A. Gonzales	72.0%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	Michael James Vallejos	73.4%A
Kit Carson County Court, Colorado	Michael K. Grinnan	76.8%A
Morgan County Court, Colorado	Michael K. Schingle	79.3%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Michael P. McHenry	67.5%A
Weld County Court, Colorado	Michele Meyer	68.1%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Michelle Amico	65.0%A
Douglas County Court, Colorado	Monica J. Gomez	65.3%A
Boulder County Court, Colorado	Noel E. Blum	61.1%A
Boulder County Court, Colorado	Norma A. Sierra	76.2%A
Fremont County Court, Colorado	Norman C. Cooling	64.9%A
Elbert County Court, Colorado	Palmer Boyette	64.5%A
Colorado 20th Judicial District	Patrick Butler	74.6%A
Rio Grande County Court, Colorado	Patrick Henry Hayes, Jr.	78.7%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Paul A. King	69.5%A
Garfield County Court, Colorado	Paul Metzger	77.7%A
Larimer County Court, Colorado	Peter E. Schoon, Jr.	72.7%A
Custer County Court, Colorado	Peter Michaelson	70.6%A
Colorado First Judicial District	Randall Arp	66.6%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Regina Walter	63.1%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	Robert L. McGahey Jr.	73.0%A
Adams County Court, Colorado	Robert S. Doyle	64.2%A
Arapahoe County Court, Colorado	Robert Tobias	70.5%A
Colorado 17th Judicial District	Robert W. Kiesnowski, Jr.	65.4%A
Colorado 5th Judicial District	Russell H. Granger	74.9%A
Jefferson County Court, Colorado	Ryan J. Stuart	68.2%A
Adams County Court, Colorado	Sabino E. Romano	65.1%A
Moffat County Court, Colorado	Sandra Gardner	75.6%A
Yuma County Court, Colorado	Sara Marie Wagers-Johnson	63.4%A
San Miguel County Court, Colorado	Scott T. Erickson	84.2%A
Colorado 2nd Judicial District	Sheila A. Rappaport	71.7%A
Colorado 14th Judicial District	Shelley A. Hill	75.0%A
Colorado 8th Judicial District	Stephen Enderlin Howard	72.8%A
El Paso County Court, Colorado	Stephen J. Sletta	71.1%A
Pueblo County Court, Colorado	Steve Fieldman	70.7%A
Jefferson County Court, Colorado	Susan Lori Fisch	70.2%A
Douglas County Court, Colorado	Susanna Meissner-Cutler	70.9%A
Crowley County Court, Colorado	Suzanne A. Grant	70.9%A
Colorado 6th Judicial District	Suzanne Carlson	71.5%A
Colorado First Judicial District	Tamara Russell	69.8%A
Colorado 17th Judicial District	Ted C. Tow	63.6%A
Colorado 18th Judicial District	Theresa Slade	62.9%A
Jefferson County Court, Colorado	Thomas E. Vance	70.1%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Thomas K. Kane	71.5%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	Thomas Kennedy (Colorado)	70.2%A
Larimer County Court, Colorado	Thomas Lee Lynch	74.0%A
Colorado 21st Judicial District	Thomas M. Deister	64.0%A
Colorado 8th Judicial District	Thomas R. French	72.1%A
Colorado 19th Judicial District	Timothy Kerns	67.7%A
Lincoln County Court, Colorado	Truston Lee Fisher	79.4%A
Pueblo County Court, Colorado	Valerie V. Haynes	62.9%A
Colorado 4th Judicial District	William B. Bain	69.7%A
Colorado 10th Judicial District	William D. Alexander	72.9%A

2014 Judicial Performance Reviews

The Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation conducted evaluations of the judges up for retention in 2014, voting on whether or not to recommend retention for those judges. The evaluation commission recommended the retention of all but the following three candidates, for which they recommended "Do not retain":

• Valerie V. Haynes of the Pueblo County Court
• Ben McClelland of the Grand County Court
• Karolyn Moore of the Boulder County Court

Process

Judges in Colorado stand for retention at the end of each term. These elections are held during the November general election in even-numbered years. In retention elections, judges do not compete against another candidate, but voters are given a "yes" or "no" choice whether to keep the justice in office for another term.

Newly appointed judges serve a provisional term of at least two years before being required to run for retention in the next general election.

Filing

Justices and judges must file a declaration of candidacy in the between six and three months before the general election.

Evaluation

Evaluation procedures for the state's judges were created by statute, in 1988, by the Colorado General Assembly. Judges are evaluated in the following categories: integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance and service to the legal profession and public.

Vacancies

If a judge is not retained, he or she leaves a vacancy on the court, which must be filled by gubernatorial appointment based on the suggestions of a judicial nominating commission. See: Judicial selection in Colorado for more information.

Noteworthy events

The following articles were current as of the dates listed.

Colorado judge not retained November 13, 2014

Click for story→

See also: JP Election Brief: 2014 retention report Judge Ben McClelland was not retained to the Grand County Court in Colorado. He received a 46.9 percent retention vote. McClelland joined the court in 2007 and was retained in 2010. After the Colorado Commissions on Judicial Performance recommended that McClelland not be retained in 2014, a campaign was started against his retention, citing behavioral concerns. Following the election, McClelland spoke to Sky-Hi News: “ First of all I want to make it perfectly clear that I feel it has been a privilege and an honor to serve the people of Grand County and the State of Colorado for the last seven years. I am not bitter or upset. I believe in the citizens of Grand County and I have great respect for the office and for the judiciary. ”

See also

• Colorado judicial elections
• Judicial selection in Colorado

External links

• Colorado Secretary of State, "Elections"

Footnotes

Colorado courts

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Federal courts:

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Colorado • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Colorado

State courts:

Colorado Supreme Court • Colorado Court of Appeals • Colorado District Courts • Colorado County Courts • Denver Probate Court • Denver Juvenile Court • Colorado Municipal Courts • Colorado Water Courts

State resources:

Courts in Colorado • Colorado judicial elections • Judicial selection in Colorado