I can see it being a runaway. Last year, a special commission appointed by the Supreme Court of Kansas made clear in its report what it did and did not like about the way Kansas allocates judges.
State law provides for two classes of judges, district judges and district magistrate judges.
District magistrates are not required to be attorneys, and they have limited jurisdiction to hear traffic cases, criminal misdemeanor cases and felony criminal cases through the preliminary hearing stage. They may also preside over certain types of civil cases, juvenile matters and probate cases. Kansas has 74 district magistrate judges. Although the law requires a resident judge in each county, some metropolitan area counties have only district judges, who are lawyers. Some other metropolitan counties have added magistrates in recent years to cope with an increasing caseload, said Ron Keefover, education officer for the Supreme Court.