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  • Ouachita Parish Louisiana, Justice Courts
  • Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
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    Ouachita Parish Justice Court, Louisiana

    From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 3 min

    Court[edit]

    Ballotpedia:Trial Courts

    The Ouachita Parish Justice Court is a trial court of limited jurisdiction in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. It contains six wards.[1]

    Judges[edit]

    Former judges[edit]

    See also[edit]

    External links[edit]


    Louisiana courts

    Federal courts:

    Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana

    State courts:

    Louisiana Supreme Court • Louisiana Courts of Appeal • Louisiana District Courts • Louisiana Family Courts • Louisiana Juvenile Courts • Louisiana Parish Courts • Louisiana City Courts • Louisiana Municipal Courts • Louisiana Traffic Courts • Louisiana Justice of the Peace Courts • Louisiana Mayor’s Courts

    State resources:

    Courts in Louisiana • Louisiana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Louisiana

    Elections[edit]

    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.

    Selection method[edit]

    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.[2]

    Election rules[edit]

    Primary election[edit]

    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.[3]

    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[edit]

    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.[3]

    General election[edit]

    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.[3]


    Footnotes[edit]

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Louisiana Secretary of State, "Elected Officials," accessed March 30, 2015 (Select "By Parish" and scroll to parish name)
    2. ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Louisiana; Limited Jurisdiction Courts," archived October 2, 2014
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Louisiana Secretary of State, "How are Candidates Elected?" accessed May 1, 2014
    Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Original source: https://ballotpedia.org/Ouachita_Parish_Justice_Court,_Louisiana
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