The 10 Court of Appeals judges are selected in the same manner as Supreme Court justice but serve terms of four, rather than six, years. One of the 10 Court of Appeals judges is appointed chief judge of the Court of Appeals by the Supreme Court. Judges of the district court are selected in one of two ways, either by merit selection and retention vote, or by partisan ballot. In some of the districts, the voters have approved nonpartisan merit selection of judges. In the other districts, judges run for office on a partisan ballot.
Judges serve terms of four years.
In merit selection district, when a vacancy in a district judgeship occurs a judicial nominating commission interviews candidates and recommends two or three persons to the governor for consideration. The governor then appoints one of these as a judge to fill the vacancy. When there is a vacancy in a district magistrate judgeship, the district judicial nominating commission selects a candidate to fill the vacancy. Judicial nominating commissions are made up of lawyers and nonlawyers who live in the district.