District court, Judicial District 5

Coleman J. McAllister

District Court Judge · District 5C · Polk County

About

Appointed to this post in 2019¹
Next on the ballot: November 2032, in District 5C²

Judge McAllister, Polk County, was appointed to the bench in April 2019. He received his undergraduate degree in History from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1990 and his J.D. from the University of Missouri Law School in 1993. Before his appointment to the bench, he worked as the Judicial Law…

Full biography on iowacourts.gov

Retention votes

Election	Yes	No	Kept by
November 3, 2026	93,750	46,281	66.9% yes

What lawyers said

Before each retention vote, the Iowa State Bar Association asks lawyers who’ve appeared before the judge to rate them from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent), and whether the judge should be kept.³

98.5% of 137 responding lawyers said to keep the judge (2026).

Question	2026
Knowledge and use of the law	4.6
Sees the facts of a case clearly	4.6
On time for court	4.8
Listens to arguments and testimony	4.7
Runs the courtroom well	4.8
Temperament and manner	4.8
Clear, well-written decisions	4.7
Rules promptly	4.7
Uses technology to improve the courts	4.7
Avoids needless personal criticism	4.8
Decides on the law and facts, not outside pressure	4.7
Courteous and patient	4.8
Treats people equally	4.8
Fair to people without a lawyer	4.7
Said to keep the judge	98.5%
Lawyers responding	137

Source: Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review: 2026 (page 43).

Appeals from this judge’s cases

2 appeals on record; 0 reversed or vacated at least in part.⁴

Harvey L. Harrison v. Lisa Mickey, in her official capacity as Open Records Coordinator and City of Des Moines, IA
Iowa Supreme Court · March 14, 2025 · Polk County · Affirmed
AI summary A citizen sued to obtain copies of all use-of-force reports written by police officers during a specific year. The city argued that these reports were exempt from public disclosure laws. The court upheld a ruling that requires the city to provide the requested…
Michael Chandler, Eddie Jones, and Chad Maddison, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated v. Iowa Department of Correction…
Iowa Supreme Court · February 21, 2025 · Polk County · Affirmed
AI summary Several peace officers sued the Iowa Department of Corrections, arguing that a specific state law allows individuals to bring private lawsuits against the agency. The court affirmed a lower court's decision to dismiss the case. This means the officers cannot u…

Notes

From the Judicial Branch’s biography of the judge. ↩
Expected: retained judges serve 6 years before the next vote (Iowa Code §46.16). A judge who retires or reaches 72 leaves sooner. ↩
Scores from the Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review, a survey of Iowa lawyers who appeared before the judge. The ISBA publishes it before each retention election; only the numbers are shown here, with a link to the page of its report they’re on. ↩
Most cases are never appealed, and a reversal can turn on a change in the law or a close question, so these counts say little about a judge’s work on their own. Iowa Funnel has Supreme Court opinions since November 2017 and Court of Appeals opinions from November 2026. ↩

Sources: the Iowa Judicial Branch; retention votes from the Iowa Secretary of State and civicAPI; lawyers’ ratings from the Iowa State Bar Association.