All judges retained, including pair of Iowa Supreme Court justices

Iowa voters Tuesday retained judges at all levels across the state, including two Supreme Court justices who this spring voted to diminish legal protections for abortion.

Under Iowa law, judges are appointed by the governor with the help of nominating commissions, and must later stand for retention elections in which voters can decide whether to keep them for another term. It is almost unheard of for a judge to not be retained, with the notable exception of three Supreme Court justices who lost retention elections in 2010 after joining in a decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Iowa.

This year, two Supreme Court justices, Dana Oxley and Matthew McDermott, were on ballots across the state, as were two appellate judges, Paul Ahlers and Gina Badding. Voters also had up to 12 district judges on their ballots, depending on their judicial district, for a total of 61 races statewide. All received new terms.

For subscribers:Iowa Supreme Court more often rejects precedents under bigger conservative majority, analysis shows

This article has been corrected to remove an erroneous figure on the length of Supreme Court terms.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at [email protected], 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: All incumbents win in Iowa judicial retention votes