Judge Retention Elections, 2026
This public domain picture is not of a Colorado judge. Voters in Colorado can decide whether to retain judges or send them packing.
So, we all get to the part of the ballot every two years where we vote on whether or not to retain judges, and most of us don’t really know how to vote. I’ll admit it if you will.
But there is information available in advance of getting your ballot! Colorado has an Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation, with information about judges running for retention in 2026 available at the link below, or there are links to individual judges at the bottom of this page.
https://judicialperformance.colorado.gov/know-your-judges/2026-judicial-performance-evaluations
Instead of holding public elections to select judges, judges in Colorado are appointed by the Governor of Colorado from a list of candidates submitted by nominating commissions relevant to the level of judgeship (i.e., a Supreme Court commission nominates potential Supreme Court judges, or a District Court commission nominates local judges).
All judges stand for retention elections after serving a two-year provisional term. County court judges then stand every four years, district court judges every six years, court of appeals judges every eight years, and Supreme Court justices every ten years.
If judges “win” their retention election with a simple majority of votes, they will go on to serve another term. There are no term limits, but there is mandatory retirement at age 72. But according to the Colorado Constitution, “If a majority of those voting on the question vote “No”, this will cause a vacancy to exist in that office at the end of his then present term of office.” That means a judge who “loses” their election will be removed from office, and the replacement will be filled by nominations from a nominating committee and a Governor’s appointment.
Below is a list of judges who will be on this year’s Boulder County ballot as up for retention in 2026. For those who don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, I will share that they’re all very broadly categorized as “meeting performance standards.” But for those who want to make a more informed decision, you can click their name for a link to a roughly one-page summary of the standards they met, along with some of their professional history, plus the webpage will also include a link to a longer Retention Survey Report.
I don’t want to make light of this, since some people might have very good reasons to want to vote for or against judge retention. But I always tell people that a vote not to retain does help create a risk that a judge might get voted out of office. That’s a heavy thing to do – and it’s OK if warranted – but not so cool if it’s just done on a whim. Vote with purpose, please.