This officeholder information was last updated on August 13, 2024. Please contact us with any updates.

Court

18th Judicial District, Louisiana

The 18th Judicial District of the Louisiana District Courts covers the parishes of Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge and Iberville. It is one of Louisiana's 42 judicial districts and hears both civil and criminal cases.^[1]

Judges

• Division A: Kevin Kimball
• Division B: Tonya Lurry
• Division C: Alvin Batiste
• Division D: Elizabeth Engolio^[2]

Former judges

• James J. Best
• William Dupont
• Robin Free

Elections

Since 1998, each judge is elected in "sub-districts", which are each comprised of 25% of the voters of the 18th District. These sub-districts are titled Divisions A, B, C and D. Before 1998, district-wide elections were used to name judges.^[1]

See also

• Louisiana District Courts
• Courts in Louisiana

External links

• 18th Judicial District Court
• West Baton Rouge Clerk of Courts
• Office of the District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District

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Elections

See also: Louisiana judicial elections

Louisiana is one of 43 states that hold elections for judicial positions. To learn more about judicial selection in Louisiana, click here.

• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2024
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2023
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2022
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2021
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2020
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2019
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2018
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2017
• Louisiana local trial court judicial elections, 2016
• Louisiana judicial elections, 2015
• Louisiana judicial elections, 2014
• Louisiana judicial elections, 2013
• Louisiana judicial elections, 2012
• Louisiana judicial elections, 2011
• Louisiana judicial elections, 2010

Selection method

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)

Election rules

Primary election

Judges compete in a primary election against candidates of all parties. If no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote (a "majority 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.^[5]

In even-numbered years, Louisiana's primary elections are held in November during the general elections of other states.

For two or more open seats

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 SOS goes on to give the following example:

1,040 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.^[5]

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.^[5]

Footnotes