The judges on your ballot: what a yes or no vote on Justices Kelli Evans, Joshua Groban and 16 Bay Area appeals justices means

How retention works

Appellate justices don't face opponents. The governor nominates them after review by the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission, and the Commission on Judicial Appointments must confirm them, according to the state voter guide. They then face a yes-or-no vote at the next governor's election and again at the end of each 12-year term. CalMatters notes that voters have ousted Supreme Court justices only once, in 1986, when three were removed.

Kelli M. Evans

Newsom appointed Evans in 2022 and she joined the court in 2023. She was an Alameda County Superior Court judge from 2021 to 2022 and before that Newsom's chief deputy legal affairs secretary, a special assistant attorney general, a senior director at the State Bar and an ACLU of Northern California attorney, according to her official biography in the voter guide. She holds degrees from Stanford and UC Davis School of Law.

Joshua Groban

Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Groban in 2018 to complete a term. He was Brown's senior adviser from 2011 to 2018, and earlier practiced at Paul, Weiss and Munger, Tolles & Olson, according to the voter guide and CalMatters. He has degrees from Stanford and Harvard Law.

Appeals justices on Bay Area ballots

The certified list shows 11 First District justices up for retention in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma (along with several North Coast counties): Charles A. Smiley, Kathleen M. Banke and Monique Langhorne Wilson (Division One); Presiding Justice Therese M. Stewart and Tara M. Desautels (Division Two); Ioana Petrou and Victor A. Rodriguez (Division Three); Presiding Justice Tracie L. Brown (Division Four); and Mark Simons, Danny Y. Chou and Gordon Burns (Division Five).

Santa Clara and Santa Cruz voters, in the Sixth District, see Daniel H. Bromberg, Charles E. Wilson II, Charles F. Adams, Frederick S. Chung (currently a Superior Court judge) and Allison Marston Danner.

A justice is retained if a majority votes yes. You can skip these contests without affecting the rest of your ballot.

How to vote

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls and vote centers close at 8 p.m., and mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days. You can check your registration and ballot status at sos.ca.gov/elections. California lets you register and vote the same day at a vote center.

More races and measures: our 2026 election hub.