A 2024 survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that about 35 percent of adults report they or someone in their household has had a case in a local or state court.
That means more than six out of every 10 adults voting in the 2026 election may never have been in a courtroom and may not even know a single judge.
This is particularly true of judges who are standing for retention further down the ballot. They are not running against another candidate. You will not see an ad, and they do not have a website. Instead, they are running to stay in their current position on the bench and must receive 57 percent voter support to do so.
That is where the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) comes in. JPEC was created by the Supreme Court of New Mexico in 1990 as a volunteer, nonpartisan Commission to help judges improve their performance and provide useful, credible information to voters on judges standing for retention.
Working with an independent research firm, we survey groups who come into contact with Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, District Court and Metropolitan Court judges on their overall performance in four main areas: legal ability; fairness; communication skills; and preparation, attentiveness, temperament and control over the courtroom proceedings.
Depending on the judge, groups surveyed include other judges, attorneys, court staff, resource staff (including law enforcement officers, CASA {Court Appointed Special Advocate] volunteers, interpreters and others who are regularly in the courtroom) and when appropriate, jurors.
We analyze statistics from the Administrative Office of the Courts for each judge including caseloads, excusals (reasons a judge is excused from hearing a case), recusals (reasons a judge excludes themselves from hearing a case due to a conflict of interest or potential bias) and the time it takes to get a case resolved.
We also meet one-on-one with each judge being evaluated to review the survey results as well as their self-assessment of performance.
As a retired judge who has gone through the evaluation process twice, I can tell you from personal experience that JPEC is very helpful. The information the Commission provided helped me really think about my performance on the bench from perspectives outside my own and gave me direction on how I could improve.
This year, JPEC evaluated 41 of 43 judges standing for retention, including two Supreme Court Justices, one Court of Appeals Judge, 30 District Court Judges and eight Metropolitan Court judges. We did not make recommendations on two judicial candidates standing for retention because they have not served for a sufficient time in their current positions.
We are pleased to recommend retaining all the judges evaluated based on predominantly positive evaluations, some judges’ stated willingness to improve in areas identified as weaknesses, and the fact that some judges’ scores have improved since their last evaluation.
In the 5th Judicial District, serving Chavez, Eddy and Lea counties, JPEC recommends retaining:
Honorable C. Shannon Bacon and David K. Thomson of the Supreme Court of New Mexico;
Honorable J. Miles Hanisee of the New Mexico Court of Appeals;
And District Court Judges Honorable David E. Finger, Dustin K. Hunter and Michael H. Stone.
For more information and our full evaluation of these candidates, individuals can visit our website at www.nmjpec.org. For a full written evaluation, individuals can call 1-800-687-3417.
This election, we encourage all voters to gather information and vote in every race for which they are eligible – including the judicial retention races. Even if you don’t know the judges, you can get reliable information on their performance.
William B. Shoobridge served as a Fifth Judicial District Court Judge from 2008-2023 and joined the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission this year. He currently has a mediation practice in Hobbs.
