SALT LAKE CITY — Despite a negative recommendation from the Utah Judicial Performance Review Commission, 3rd District Judge Su Chon was on track to remain on the bench in Tuesday's election.
Fifty-eight percent of voters had chosen to retain Chon, according to election results available just after 11 p.m. Long lines at polling places in Salt Lake County were delaying some results there late into the evening.
Chon serves in Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties.
In its report intended to inform voters about judges' performance as they prepared to go to the polls, the commission voted 7-2 against retaining Chon. The report found that scores measuring Chon's legal abilities fell below the minimum levels to recommend she keep her seat, and all of Chon's other scores were below those of other district court judges.
Beside 4th District Judge Darold McDade, who was supported by only seven out of 12 committee members, no other district court judges had votes against them in the commission's report.
McDade secured 77 percent support for retention.
Appointed by Gov. Gary Herbert in 2012, Chon took the bench with a 17-10 vote of support from the Utah Senate, days after the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee voted 4-2 against her nomination.
At the time, senators spoke highly of Chon but voiced concern that the then-attorney, a mediator in the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman, lacked trial experience and needed more time in the courtroom before assuming a judgeship.