Thirty years of judicial retention elections: An update

This article updates prior reports on the empirical patterns and trends in judicial retention elections. The 3,912 elections encompass both major tria l court and appellate court elections in ten states for the period from 196 4 through 1994. Reported trends include declines in the affirmative vote, r olloff, and voter differentiation among individual judges. Detailed analysi s of defeated judges indicates that regular retention voters quickly remove judges from the bench without any negative consequences for other judges o n the ballot.