This is a time of year when conscientious voters should appreciate the work of the Nebraska Bar Association.

     In Nebraska, judges are on the ballot once every six years. Voters determine whether they can keep their jobs.

The bar association provides invaluable information to voters who want to make knowledgeable decisions on whether judges should be retained in office. Every two years, Nebraska attorneys rate the performance of judges across the state with the bar association’s Judicial Evaluation Poll. Results are available at the bar’s Web site (www.nebar.com) or by calling (800) 927-0117.

Locally, the question of which judges should be retained is almost off the radar. Local judges received fair to excellent ratings. There have been no public controversies.

That’s not the case in Omaha. There, 60 percent of attorneys who responded to the poll said District Judge Lyn V. White should be removed from office, and 57.63 percent of attorneys said Juvenile Judge Elizabeth G. Crnkovich should be removed from office.

The current system of voting on judges was adopted in Nebraska in 1962. Since then, seven judges at various levels have been removed from office.

For the most part, the system used in Nebraska — known as the Missouri plan or merit system — keeps judges above the political fray. A notable exception was the campaign in 1996 to unseat Supreme Court Judge David Lanphier after controversial rulings throwing out laws on term limits and on the definition of second-degree murder.

The system compares favorably with an approach used in some states where judges run for office like any other candidate, raising funds, holding rallies and making campaign speeches.

Critics charge that this makes judges susceptible to favoring campaign contributors. An analysis published this year showed the justices on the Louisiana Supreme Court voted in favor of their contributors 65 percent of the time on average. Two justices did so 80 percent of the time, according to The New York Times.

In Wisconsin earlier this year, a small-town judge created controversy when he unseated the state Supreme Court’s only black justice after running television ads falsely charging that the justice had helped set free a black child molester.

For the most part, the system used in Nebraska has worked as intended, avoiding the excesses of a full-blown election system while still giving voters an avenue for expressing their views.

A good share of the credit for that success should go to the state bar association for its systematic efforts to put information in the hands of voters.