By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The Missouri Bar Association has released its recommendations for judges who face retention votes this November.
The Bar's panels recommended just one judge, St. Louis Circuit Judge Dale Hood, be voted off the bench.
The lawyer's group took input from a wider population this year. The Bar considered surveys from juries and non-lawyers.
Tom Burke is the president-elect of the Missouri Bar.
"The idea of expanding the process and improving the process to include lay members on non-lawyer members was thought to be very important to get the input of citizens or non-lawyers into the process to give it more credibility or legitimacy," he said.
Forty-two judges in several urban counties, as well as the state's appellate and Supreme Courts are up for retention.
Only two judges have been voted out of office under the system in nearly 70 years.