A delegation of Lake County judges and other officials will testify Friday afternoon in Indianapolis before the Indiana Commission on Courts on the benefits of removing the four Lake Superior Court, County Division judges from having to run for re-election under party labels.

Scott Yahne, president of the Lake County Bar Association, said Wednesday his organization, which represents many of the county's lawyers, supports including the four courts in the county's merit selection system, which ensures judges' decisions will be independent of political influence.

Lake County is one of two counties in the state in which most Superior Court judges are nominated by a panel of lawyers and lay people and appointed to office by the governor. They face the voters every six years in nonpartisan retention-rejection referendums.

Judges Nicholas Schiralli, Sheila Moss, Julie Cantrell are running for re-election Nov. 4 as Democrats. Judge Jesse Villalpando was elected in 2006 as a Democrat.

The Commission on Courts, a legislative committee on which the Indiana Supreme Court chief justice also sits, will hear testimony from Lake County Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, D-Gary; Cantrell, Yahne and others.

Yahne said he hopes the commission will recommend legislation next year to bring the four courts into the merit system.