A new website has been created to help voters learn about the appellate judges up for retention in November elections, and launched a month prior to this year’s election with information about the five judges on the ballot in 2008.
The new site offers information including a brief biography of each judge facing a retention election. A database of the judges’ opinions has been made available so visitors to the site can read those authored by the judge.
The website was created following remarks by Senate President Pro tempore David Long at the September 2007 judicial conference in Fort Wayne urging the judiciary to provide more information to voters about the appellate retention elections.
A working group led by Court of Appeals Judges Terry Crone and Cale Bradford have been coordinating the development of the site. Both judges, along with technical support from Justin Harter of State Court Administration, presented an online demonstration of the site at the Commission on Courts meeting last August.
Commission member Rep. Kathy K. Richardson, R-Noblesville, described the site as “wonderful” and predicted it to be of benefit to voters and to circuit clerks who frequently field questions about appellate retention elections.
In addition to being able to read each judge’s opinion, users are also able to view archived webcasts of all Supreme Court oral arguments and arguments before other courts that have used the Supreme Courtroom for webcasting.
Other useful links on the site allow users to learn about the Indiana judicial retention process, the structure of Indiana’s courts, and the Indiana and American Bar Associations. News articles about Indiana’s retention elections are also posted on the site.
The Indiana State Bar Association conducts a retention survey of its members and the results for 2008 are available on the site.