Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2018

2018 Trial court elections

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Elections information

Election dates • State judicial elections Poll opening and closing times

Louisiana held elections for local judicial offices in 2018. A primary election took place on November 6, 2018. A general election took place on December 8, 2018. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was July 20, 2018.^[1]

Louisiana elections use the Louisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

There were also special elections on March 24, 2018, for a seat on the 19th Judicial District Court and a seat on the Orleans Parish Judicial District Court.

Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. This coverage extends to every office on the ballot for residents of these cities, including local trial court judges. Although the top 100 cities includes New Orleans and Baton Rouge, neither city held elections in 2018. Ballotpedia therefore did not cover local trial court judicial elections in this state in 2018. Click here to learn more about how the judges in this state are selected. Please consider donating to Ballotpedia to help us expand our coverage of these elections.

For more information about the 2018 appellate court elections in the state, click here.

Election dates

• July 20, 2018: Candidate filing deadline
• November 6, 2018: Primary election
• December 8, 2018: General election

March special election

19th Judicial District

Section 3, Division H

☑ Fred Crifasi

Orleans Parish Judicial District

Civil District Court, Division A

☐ Taetrece Harrison
☑ Ellen Hazeur
☐ Richard Perque

Election rules

Primary election

Louisiana's primary elections are held in November, during the general elections of other states. Judges compete in a primary election against candidates of all parties. If no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates run against each other in the general election. If a candidate does receive a majority vote in the primary, he or she is declared elected as an unopposed candidate and will not be listed on the general election ballot.^[2]

In the event that candidates are competing for more than one open seat on a court, the majority vote is decided by "dividing the total votes cast for all of the candidates by the number of offices to be filled [and] dividing the result so obtained by two," according to the Secretary of State website. The website gives the following example:

1040 total votes cast ÷ 3 offices to be filled ＝ 346.6

346.6 ÷ 2 ＝ 173.3

In the above example, 174 votes are necessary to win for each of the 3 offices.^[2]

General election

A general election is won by obtaining the highest number of votes. In the case of races with two or more open seats, the two or more candidates with the highest votes are declared the winners. If there is a tie, an additional election will be scheduled for the third Saturday after the announcement of the election results.^[2]

Judicial selection method

District courts

See also: Partisan election of judges

There are 217 judges on the Louisiana District Courts, each elected to six-year terms. They must face re-election if they wish to serve again.^[3]

The district courts select chief judges by peer vote (with term lengths that vary by individual court).^[3]

Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:^[3][4]

• licensed to practice law in the state for at least eight years;
• a resident of the district represented for at least one year; and
• under the age of 70 at the time of election (judges who turn 70 in office may serve until their term expires)

Family courts

See also: Partisan elections

Judges of the Louisiana Family Courts are each elected to six-year terms. The elections for this court are partisan contested elections. To serve on this court, a judge must be a parish resident for one year, younger than 70 years old, and have eight years experience of practicing law in the state and a law degree.^[5]

Justice courts

See also: Partisan elections

Judges of the Louisiana Justice of the Peace Courts are each elected to six-year terms. The elections for this court are partisan contested elections. To serve on this court, a judge must be a local resident for two years, younger than 70 years old, and have a law degree.^[6]

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in Louisiana. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in Louisiana. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

See also

Local courts	Louisiana	Other local coverage
Local trial court judicial elections, 2018 Courts and judges by county Judicial selection by state Judicial elections	Louisiana elections, 2018 Judicial selection in Louisiana Public policy in Louisiana Endorsers in Louisiana	Municipal elections, 2018 School board elections, 2018 Local ballot measure elections, 2018 Recall elections, 2018

External links

• Louisiana Secretary of State

Footnotes