Who Is Judge Kolony Fields? Appointed by Polis in 2019, Rated 7-0, Retained in 2022 With 72 Percent, and on the Douglas County Ballot This November

Kolony Fields is a Douglas County Court judge, and her name is on the county's ballot this fall with one question attached: shall she be retained in office? She has no opponent and does not campaign. County court is where traffic tickets, misdemeanors and small civil disputes are heard, so she and Lawrence Bowling are the two judges on this ballot a Douglas County resident is most likely to have met. Here is who she is, from the governor's announcement, the court's orders, the Secretary of State and the two commissions that evaluated her.

Who appointed her, and when

Gov. Jared Polis announced her appointment on Nov. 7, 2019, to fill the vacancy created when Judge Monica Gomez was appointed to the El Paso County Court, and the release said the appointment was effective immediately. The commission's 2022 and 2026 narratives both say she "was appointed to the Douglas County Court in December 2019"; no document we read explains the month's difference, and it may simply be when she was sworn in.

She served the two-year provisional term and was retained by Douglas County voters in 2022. County judges serve four-year terms, so she is back on the ballot this year. On Jan. 14, 2025, the day the 23rd Judicial District opened, its chief judge ordered that she "is appointed to serve as Presiding County Court Judge in Douglas County." We did not find a later order changing that.

What she did before the bench

She spent her whole career before the bench on the defense side and then as a magistrate, all in the 1st Judicial District. After the University of Colorado in 1999 and the University of Denver's law school in 2004, she joined the Office of the State Public Defender in Golden and stayed until 2011, when she was hired as a district court magistrate in Jefferson County. The governor's release said her magistrate docket "consists primarily of juvenile delinquency, criminal, domestic relations, and dependency and neglect matters." The commission notes she has volunteered in mock trial competitions throughout her career and takes part in the Judicial Branch's peer-to-peer program supporting other judicial officers.

What the performance commission found, twice

The 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance met with the district attorney's office, the public defender's office, probation and the chief judge, interviewed her, watched her in court and reviewed the survey. Its 2026 finding: she meets performance standards, 7-0, with one commissioner absent and two seats vacant.

The narrative says she "scored higher than average for Douglas County Judges," that comments about her "were positive and mention her respectful demeanor to parties and her ability to care," and that "fairness, dignity, respect, and communication skills were among Judge Fields's highest ranked categories." It describes her docket as "civil, misdemeanor, and traffic cases." The 18th District commission's 2022 narrative, which was also 7-0 with three members not participating, used nearly the same language; that year 95 percent of attorneys and 95 percent of non-attorneys said she met standards, from 108 respondents.

"Fairness, dignity, respect, and communication skills were among Judge Fields's highest ranked categories." The 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance, 2026.

The survey numbers

The 2026 survey is much smaller than the 2022 one. The contractor emailed 189 attorneys and 596 non-attorneys, plus a self-select invitation to 2,782 court staff; ten attorneys, eight members of the public, four court staff, three jurors and one citizen-feedback respondent answered, 26 in all. Eight of the nine attorneys who answered the standards question said she meets them, and 12 of 14 non-attorneys said yes.

Her overall score was 3.3 on a scale where 2 is "adequate performance" and 4 is "outstanding." The trend is down from a high base: 4.0 in 2020 from 12 respondents, 3.7 in 2021, 3.8 in 2022 and 2023, 3.5 in 2024 and 2025, 3.3 now. Her category scores run from 3.1 on application and knowledge of law to 3.5 on communications and on demeanor.

How the county voted on her in 2022

The Secretary of State's abstract shows Douglas County retained her by 100,600 to 38,809, or 72.16 percent yes.

The "voting record" question

County court rulings are rarely published, and we found no news coverage naming her in the past two years. We have not reviewed her rulings and will not characterize them beyond what the commission wrote. As for party: the ballot lists none for any judge, the governor who appointed her is a Democrat, and the Douglas County Republican Party's online voter guide recommends retaining her. We found no organized opposition to her.

How to vote on her

County judges appear only on their own county's ballot, so she is a question Douglas County voters alone decide. She is listed near the end of the retention section with the county's other county judge. A "yes" keeps her for four years; a "no" removes her at the end of this term and the governor appoints a replacement; a majority of the votes cast on the question decides it. Retention judges do not campaign. All thirteen judges on the Douglas County ballot drew a "meets standards" finding this year; our page on all thirteen has every narrative and vote count.

More: every race and measure on your ballot, the November ballot guide, and where to vote. We do not endorse candidates or take positions on judicial retention. Corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.

*Election night: live results for every Douglas County race, measure and judge, with the first numbers after 7 p.m. on Nov. 3. Before then: where to vote in person, every drop box, and the deadlines, and who has voted so far.*