Voters retain all state judges on ballot

Across the state, Nebraska voters this year voted to retain all of the 33 state court judges on the bench.

Despite Nebraska State Bar members giving marks below 50% for two of the state's judges in its biennial poll, including Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret (who they gave a 34.9% rating), none of the judges received a vote total of less than 63%.

To be removed from the bench, a judge would have to get more votes not to be retained than retained.

Rather than running for election, the state's judges instead run for retention every six years, a process adopted in the state as a constitutional amendment in 1962.

While the system initially applied only to Supreme Court justices and district courts, it since has been extended to include all state judges.

Here are the nine Lancaster County judges who were on general election ballots, with the percentage of voters who said they should be retained:

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (District 1)

Stephanie Stacy, 76.09%

Judge of the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court (Statewide)

Julie Martin, 78.39%

Judge of the District Court

Lori Maret, 63.02%

Ryan Post, 76.2%

Susan Strong, 76.5%

Judge of the Separate Juvenile Court

Elise White, 77.64%

Shellie Sabata, 73.03%

Judge of the County Court

Holly Parsley, 77.83%

Thomas Zimmerman, 76.06%