On the flip side of Kansas ballots they show Judges and ask "be retained for office?"

[hlthe2b]

2. In Colorado, the Bar Assoc. ranks those up for retention. All got a "retain" assessment BUT

only one failed to get a unanimous vote. That, being the ONLY Hispanic judge who got 6/10 after addressing some additional "training" to address some perceived deficiencies. Well, my instinct might have been to vote "no retain," but seeing he was Hispanic and the only one on the slate of judges up for retention votes made me take the time to research. All I found could readily have been subjective complaints by lawyers in his court and I could not find anything that referred to controversial opinions, so I voted to retain.

It is really hard to assess these "retention votes" and that is why so many just blanket vote "yes" or leave them blank. An elderly friend of mine, normally very politically astute just votes "no" on all of them, while his wife votes "yes." While that seems very silly to me, I'd bet a lot of people do so.

It really is not a great system, IMO.