Guide is part of judicial election education effort.

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With mailings, billboards, the Internet, and TV, voters will have plenty of information about candidates and issues on the 2012 election ballot. But when it comes to judicial races, it's another matter.

For one thing, candidates for judicial offices cannot make promises about how they'll rule. They also are governed by judicial canons about their conduct. Consider that the judges and justices who serve on appeal courts and the Florida Supreme Court are not allowed by law to raise campaign funds for their merit retention elections unless groups organize to oppose them.

Educating voters about the role of trial and appeal court judges and answering questions about the merit retention system is the primary reason The Florida Bar produced a "Guide for Florida Voters: Questions and Answers about Florida Judges, Judicial Elections and Merit Retention."

More than 250,000 copies of the six-page guide have been printed. The guide is also available for download in both English and Spanish from the Bar website.

"We hope that the voters' guide will provide Florida voters with the information they need to make educated votes in this year's Florida judicial elections," said Merrick "Rick" Gross, chair of the Constitutional Judiciary Committee.

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The guide is part of the Bar's effort to inform both members and the public about the pivotal role of a fair and impartial judiciary in Florida's three-branch system of government.

Included in the educational effort is the statewide "The Vote's in Your Court Campaign: Judicial Merit Retention. Know the Facts."

The Bar also is offering members complimentary attendance at a two-hour CLE at the Annual Convention in June. Called "Choosing Our Judges," the seminar features retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The Guide for Florida Voters will be distributed in several ways:

* Bar members who live in Florida will receive copies inside the June 1 edition of the Bar News.

* The nonpartisan League of Women Voters will distribute copies of the guide to various community groups and organizations.

* Supervisors of elections for Florida's 67 counties will have copies available for members of the public.

* Voluntary bars and members can request copies by emailing votersguide@flabar.org.

A result of a partnership of the Constitutional Judiciary Committee and the Judicial Administration and Evaluation Committee, the guide was first drafted by CJC member Debra Moss...