Judges are usually the ones making important decisions. But on election day, voters are the ones swinging the gavel.
Now, casting that vote can be easy. The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission is posting reviews of judges on their website. 'We have courtroom observations where we have trained, non-legal, non-lawyer volunteers who go sit and observe judges in action and see if it looks like justice is being dispensed from their perception,' said Anthony W. Schofield, chairman of the commission. Four years in the making, the website launches today. Schofield is a former judge himself and said the commission provides more information for voters than ever before.
'Having a resource that would have some kind of standard that each of the judges would be based on would be helpful to maintain an idea of what their stance is on important issues,' said Joshua Matson, a Provo voter.
The website is great for informing voters, and it's user-friendly. Just go to the website at www.judges.utah.gov. Scroll down to the box about judges in the upcoming election and select your county. Then just click on the judge to see the reviews.
The courtroom observation program is the first of its kind nationwide, and before the committee created this website, voters only got pamphlets at polling booths. But now they're just a click away from judging a judge.