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Judicial evaluation commission to expand survey pools and launch judge portal amid concerns about retirements before retention votes
Summary
JPEC Executive Director Mary Margaret Pingree told the subcommittee JPEC will pilot surveys of self-represented litigants and trial judges, create an interactive judge portal for reports, and work to make evaluation data more differentiating for voters; members raised concerns about judges retiring before retention ballots, which can remove unfavorable evaluations from public record.
Mary Margaret Pingree, executive director of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC), briefed the subcommittee about ongoing efforts to improve the judicial-evaluation process ahead of 2026 retention ballots. She said JPEC is evaluating 139 judges this cycle (109 full-time judges; 58 on the ballot, 81 midterm evaluations) and that last fall JPEC received roughly 11,000 survey responses (about 45% overall response rate from attorneys, jurors and court staff).
Pingree described two initiatives to strengthen the usefulness of evaluation data for voters: (1) expanding respondent pools to include self-represented litigants and trial judges (a pilot was run to test reliability), and (2) launching an interactive judge portal so judges can access their historical data and voters can be presented clearer, more differentiating information. "We plan to launch in the next couple of weeks a judge portal where judges will receive their evaluation," Pingree said, noting the portal should both lower staff time for report production and allow judges to explore trends over time.
Committee members pressed JPEC on sample-size limits, particularly for appellate court judges where the pool of familiar attorneys is small and centered in Salt Lake City; Representative Burton suggested extending exterior sampling beyond legal peers. Members also asked how frequently judges retire before appearing on the ballot after receiving unfavorable evaluations; Pingree said judges receiving unfavorable evaluations in 2024 stepped down prior to the retention vote, and that statutory rules prevent JPEC from publicizing unfavorable evaluations if the judge retires.
