Missouri Judicial Retention 2026: The Judges on Your Jackson County Ballot
Judicial Retention
Eleven judges are on Jackson County’s ballot. Here is what a yes-or-no on each of them means, and where to find the record.
Judges on the ballot are treated like candidates: records, rulings, and dates, and nothing else. No recommendations. The judgment is yours.
📌 The Stakes Are HighAt the bottom of the ballot you will be asked, judge by judge, whether each should be retained. A yes keeps the judge for another term. A no, if it wins a majority, removes them and opens the seat to a new appointment. Most voters skip these questions or vote yes on all of them. These are the judges who set bail, sentence, decide evictions, and rule on custody in Jackson County.
Missouri adopted the Nonpartisan Court Plan by initiative petition in 1940, to break the hold of Kansas City’s Pendergast machine over the courts. When a seat opens, a nonpartisan commission nominates three candidates, the governor appoints one, and after that the judge faces yes-or-no retention votes instead of a contested election. The plan covers the state’s appellate courts and the circuits that opted in, including Jackson County. Nobody runs against a judge in a retention vote. The only check is you.
🔍 Peep GameThe Judicial Performance Review Committee, made up of lawyers and non-lawyers, rates every judge on the ballot. This year it found all 50 Missouri judges up for retention meet its standards, including all eleven on Jackson County ballots. It almost always does. Its full reviews, including attorney and juror surveys and sample opinions, are public at yourmissourijudges.org.
🗝️ The RecordMissouri Supreme Court
Paul C. Wilson.
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District
Lisa White Hardwick.
16th Circuit, Circuit Judges
Kenneth R. Garrett III (Division 2) · Patrick C. Edwards (Division 4) · Lauren D. Barrett (Division 14) · Cory L. Atkins (Division 17) · Kevin D. Harrell (Division 18).
16th Circuit, Associate Circuit Judges
Abbie Rothermich (Division 25) · R. Travis Willingham (Division 26) · Kea S. Bird-Riley (Division 27) · Mary Frances Weir (Division 31).
Each judge’s full performance review, including attorney and juror survey results and sample written opinions, is public at yourmissourijudges.org.
✊🏾 What You Can DoDo not skip the bottom of the ballot, and do not vote on autopilot. Before you go, open yourmissourijudges.org, read the review for each judge on your ballot, and ask anyone you know who has stood in front of them. Court watchers and bail funds keep notes the committee does not.
