The Title Board on Wednesday advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would require at least 55% of voters to support a judge’s retention, rather than the simple majority that is needed currently.

However, the change, if enacted, may have limited impact. Of the judges and justices who were retained in 2020 and 2022, none received less than 55% support from voters. In 2018, only two county court judges and one district court judge were retained with between 50-55% of the vote.

In even-numbered years, voters decide whether to retain judges who have served at least two years after their initial appointment by the governor. Citizen-led performance commissions evaluate judges on metrics that include demeanor, case management and knowledge of the law, and then make recommendations to voters.

Initiative #250 would require 55% of voters to support a judge’s retention, with anything less triggering a vacancy at the end of the judge’s term. Because it is a constitutional amendment, the measure would itself require 55% support.

The named proponents of the initiative are Jon Caldara, president of the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute, and Dennis Maes, a former chief judge in Pueblo County. Both men are opinion contributors to Colorado Politics and its sibling publications. In the past, Caldara has called the judicial performance system “inbred” and “self-serving,” and advocated for voters to “vote ‘no’ on all judges, all the time.”

The Judicial Department and the Colorado Bar Association declined to speak about the proposed initiative, saying they do not comment on pending changes to the law.

The role of the three-member Title Board is to determine if a proposed ballot initiative adheres to the constitutional requirement of having a single subject. If so, the board sets the title that voters see on their ballots. From there, the proponents of a measure can begin collecting signatures to qualify their proposal for the ballot.

Initiatives for the November 2024 election require 124,238 signatures.

Maes told Colorado Politics there has been “very little” examination of the merit selection system for judges in the six decades since voters enacted the current process.

“The intent of the initiative is to begin an in depth discussion of the need to examine what changes are necessary to avoid a much more serious crisis and permit the electorate to have a direct say in the operation of the judicial branch,” he said. “The fact that most judges have been retained in the past should not be a sign that citizens are satisfied and disinterested in holding government to a higher standard of transparency.”

Although the vast majority of judges receive favorable evaluations from the performance commissions and are retained, some judges may choose to retire rather than be the subject of a critical recommendation to voters. Judges are retained for terms of varying lengths, ranging from four years for county court judges to 10 years for Supreme Court justices.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comments from Dennis Maes.