INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Commission on Courts voted 9-0 Monday in support of legislation that would change the selection process for Lake County Superior Court county division judges.

Under the legislation, the judges would be selected by merit rather than the current system of elections.

The commission also voted in favor of protecting merit selection in St. Joe County, Magistrate Mike Pagano said.

Representatives from the Lake County Bar Association, county commissioners and Lake Superior Court Judges John Pera and Julie Cantrell were among those who spoke in favor of merit-based selection before the commission recently in Indianapolis.

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 referenda.

Lake County commissioners argue shifting the four judges who are still elected into a merit-based selection system would save taxpayers the expense of employing larger court staffs through patronage jobs.

The county bar association unanimously adopted a resolution that favors the extension of merit-based selection to the county courts division.

The Indiana Legislature ultimately controls any changes to the process of selecting judges.

State Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, has said she will sponsor that bill next year.