Census Numbers Bring Change For Pinal County Superior Court Judges
Fair Courts E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Whitney Phillips
Source: Cronkite News
Date: November 17, 2011
Thanks to a change in judicial selection in Pinal County, Arizona, Superior Court Judge Robert Carter Olson notes that “our judges are going to continue to seek those opportunities to intersect with the community while not having to do the things that are distasteful, like raising the money or some of the knock-down, drag-out politics that judges shouldn’t have to do.” Under Arizona’s constitution, counties with 250,000 or more residents automatically switch to a merit selection system. According to a Cronkite News Service report, the population of Pinal County surged to 370,000 in the 2010 census, prompting the county to switch from a contested-election system to a hybrid system of appointment and retention elections.