Poll: Bar members like current judges

The same would also likely apply to U.S. Court of Claims judges, U.S. magistrate judges and U.S. bankruptcy judges, a Congressional Research Service report noted.

Florida lawyers responding to a survey overwhelmingly want to keep the state's appeals court judges, according to the Florida Bar.

A poll of Bar members shows District Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices getting the support of anywhere from 79 percent to 92 percent of those surveyed.

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The judges will be on the ballot Nov. 8 in merit retention elections, which allow voters to decide to keep the justices or remove them from the bench, in which case Gov. Rick Scott would name a replacement.

Florida Bar President William Schifino Jr. said the poll is meant to give voters more information before they make their decision.

"It tells voters how attorneys who practice before Florida's appeals courts view the men and women who judge cases and interpret Florida law," Schifino said in a news release about the survey.

The lowest levels of support went to 1st District Court of Appeal judges Lori Rowe and Thomas Winokur, who both still polled at 79 percent; 2nd DCA Judge Stevan Travis Northcutt and 4th DCA Judge Jonathan Gerber both received the backing of 92 percent of those polled.

The Bar said it sent ballots to 74,859 members, and 5,967 lawyers returned them.