Alabama judicial elections, 2014

Alabama judicial elections, 2014
Overview
Total candidates:	69
Primary candidates:	24
General election candidates:	55
Incumbency
Incumbents:	41
Incumbent success rate:	93%
Competition - general election
Percent of candidates in contested races:	25%
Percent uncontested:	75%
Partisan victories
Republican	28
Democratic	20

Judicial Elections
Elections Portal
Judicial election dates
Candidates by state
Supreme court elections

The Alabama judicial elections featured partisan elections for 48 judgeships. In total, 69 judicial candidates ran in Alabama's partisan judicial elections in 2014. Of these candidates, 41 were incumbents running for re-election. That same number of candidates, though not all incumbents, ran unopposed. In the general election on November 4, 2014, only seven judicial races were contested, with six incumbent judges facing challenges to their bids for re-election. One incumbent Alabama Supreme Court justice was re-elected without opposition.

See Alabama elections summary, 2014 for an overview of this state's election results.

Election dates

• April 4: Filing deadline
• June 3: Primary
• July 15: Primary runoff
• November 4: General election

In addition to candidate lists, this page includes information about how the state's judicial elections work, as well as articles about noteworthy news in races across the state.

General election: Contested races

(I) denotes incumbent

10th Circuit Court, Place 10

• Gloria Bahakel, 48.9%A
• Pat Ballard, 51.1%A

10th Circuit Court, Place 3

• J. William Cole (I), 50.3%A
• Martin Weinberg, 49.7%A

Baldwin County District Court, Place 1

• Ginger Poynter, 26.9%A
• Michelle M. Thomason (I), 73%A

Cherokee County District Court, Seat 1

• Sheri Carver (I), 43%A
• Wes Mobley, 57%A

Jefferson County District Court, Civil Division Seat 1

• John E. Amari (I), 52.7%A
• Suzanne S. Childers, 47.3%A

Jefferson County District Court, Civil Division Seat 2

• Shanta' Owens (I), 51%A
• William Davis Lawley, 48.9%A

Walker County District Court, Place 1

• Albert Day Legg, III, 28.2%A
• Henry Allred (I), 78.2%A

General election: Uncontested

The following candidates ran unopposed in the general election.

Appellate courts

Court	Candidate
Click the arrows in the column headings to sort columns alphabetically.
Alabama Supreme Court	Greg Shaw
Court of Criminal Appeals	J. Elizabeth Kellum
Court of Criminal Appeals	Mary Windom
Court of Civil Appeals	Scott Donaldson
Court of Civil Appeals	William Thompson (Alabama)

Trial courts

Court	Candidate
Click the arrows in the column headings to sort columns alphabetically.
Lamar County District Court	Alex Brown
23rd Circuit Court	Alison Strickland Austin
15th Circuit Court	Bob Bailey
Circuit 20	Brad Mendheim
Morgan County District Court	Brent Craig
28th Circuit Court	Carmen E. Bosch
Morgan County District Court	Charles Langham
6th Circuit Court	Charles Malone (Alabama)
Tallapoosa County District Court	Clayton Taylor
Shelby County District Court	Daniel A. Crowson
26th Circuit Court	David Johnson (Alabama)
Macon County District Court	Deborah H. Biggers
Jackson County District Court	Don Word
15th Circuit Court	Eugene W. Reese
Elmore County District Court	Glenn Goggans
15th Circuit Court	J.R. Gaines
28th Circuit Court	J. Langford Floyd
Mobile County District Court	Jay York
38th Circuit Court	Jenifer C. Holt
Montgomery County District Court	Jimmy B. Pool
Mobile County District Court	Joe Basenberg
6th Circuit Court	John England
Marshall County District Court	John Michael Mastin
15th Circuit Court	Johnny Hardwick
Pickens County District Court	Lance Bailey
Greene County District Court	Lillie Jones-Osborne
Talladega County District Court	M. Ryan Rumsey
Butler County District Court	MacDonald Russell
Cleburne County District Court	Melody Walker
Elmore County District Court	Patrick D. Pinkston
7th Circuit Court	Peggy P. Miller Lacher
St. Clair County District Court	Robert L. Minor
Madison County District Court	Schuyler H. Richardson
Dale County District Court	Stan Garner
DeKalb County District Court	Steven Whitmire
Sumter County District Court	Tammy Montgomery

Primary

For candidate lists and results from the June 3, 2014, judicial primary, please see: Alabama primary elections, 2014.

Primary runoff

Two seats were contested in the July 15 runoff this year. Both were for the Democratic nomination.

• For Place 10 on the 10th Circuit Court (Jefferson County): Perryn Carroll vs. Pat Ballard

Result: Ballard narrowly won with 50.2 percent of the votes (58 votes ahead of Carroll).

• For the Macon County District Court: Deborah H. Biggers A vs. Linda W.H. Henderson

Result: Biggers won with 55 percent of the votes.

Process

Primary election

Candidates for judge or justice who wish to run on a party ticket must qualify to run in an open primary by obtaining the legally required number of signatures to get on the ballot. The primary for all political parties is the held on the second Tuesday in June of the election year. Candidates can only qualify for one party. The winners from each party proceed to a general election in November.

If no candidate in a race wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff determines who will advance to the general election. The top two primary placers advance to the runoff.

If a candidate qualifies on a party ticket and is unopposed, their name is not placed on the primary ticket, but instead is placed automatically on the general election ballot. Political parties can make rules restricting who participates in primaries, and participants can only vote in a single party's primary.

General elections

Alabama general elections are held on the first Tuesday in November of every even-numbered year. If a victory margin is within one half of one percent, there will be an automatic recount unless the defeated candidate provides a waiver to the recount.

Ballot measure

Foreign laws in court - SB 4

Alabama voters passed the 2014 Alabama Foreign Laws in Court Amendment, SB4, which prohibits judges from considering Islamic Sharia law in judicial decisions. State Senator Gerald Allen proposed the Alabama "Sharia Law Amendment" (2012) in the 2011 legislative session, but it did not make the ballot in 2012.

Oklahoma law barred from taking affect

Oklahoma passed a similar measure in 2010, the Oklahoma "Sharia Law Amendment", State Question 755. That same month, Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange of the Western District of Oklahoma ruled that the amendment was unconstitutional and issued a temporary injunction to bar the law from taking effect. That ruling was later reinforced by the Tenth Circuit, when a three-judge panel agreed with Judge Miles-LaGrange's ruling in January 2012. The appellate court made the injunction permanent.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives approved a similar measure in 2012, but the statute died in the Senate.

Other attempts at Sharia law amendments

Missouri, Texas, and Wyoming have attempted to create statewide ballot measures banning the use of Sharia Law, but none of those attempts received the necessary votes in the legislatures to make the ballot.

Noteworthy events

The following articles were current as of the dates listed.

Two Alabama races head to primary runoff July 10, 2014

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See also: JP Election Brief: Kidnapping, runoffs and voter ID The primary runoff to decide close judicial races in Alabama was held on July 15, 2014, and was the last chance for four candidates hoping for a seat on the bench. The counties of Jefferson and Macon both hosted Democratic runoffs. Primary runoffs are held between the top two candidates when no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes in the primary. One race was for the 10th Circuit Court in Jefferson County. A packed primary saw five Democratic candidates vying for a seat on the bench, but Pat Ballard and Perryn Carroll were the only ones to advance. Ballard led the pack with 30.5 percent of the votes, but the second-place spot was quite close. Carroll edged out Wyndall A. Ivey for a second chance in the runoff by only 112 votes, or 0.5 percent, according to the most recent totals. The winner of the July runoff will face Republican and former circuit court judge Gloria Bahakel in November. The race for the Macon County District Court was also a nail-biter. Deborah H. Biggers won the Democratic primary with 43.3 percent of the vote, but Linda W.H. Henderson and Katy Smith Campbell were extremely close in the race for second-place. In the end, Henderson won a spot on the runoff ballot next to Biggers, but it was only by a difference of six votes, according to initial results. Since no Republican candidate filed, the winner of the runoff was unopposed in November.

Only six-vote difference in primary for Macon County District Court June 5, 2014

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There was a mere six-vote difference between two candidates hoping to advance to the runoff, according to initial results for the Macon County District Court race after the primary. Because no candidate received over 50 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary and there are no Republican candidates, a runoff election on July 15 decided who ran unopposed in the general election. The top two candidates from the primary competed in the runoff. Deborah H. Biggers secured a spot in the runoff with 43.3 percent of the votes, but the second-place spot was extremely close. Linda W.H. Henderson edged out Katy Smith Campbell by just six votes, according to initial results.

Two incumbents defeated in Alabama primaries June 5, 2014

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A couple underdogs arose victorious following the Alabama primary, ousting their incumbent opponents. The election on June 3, 2014, was partisan, pitting candidates against members of their own party for a shot at the general elections. However, in many of the state's judicial races, only one party put up any candidates for office. In those cases, the winner of the party's primary ran unopposed in the general election. That's how Peggy P. Miller Lacher and Melody Walker secured their seats on the bench. In the race for circuit judge of Circuit 7, which has jurisdiction over Calhoun and Cleburne counties, Judge Brenda S. Stedham faced Peggy P. Miller Lacher in a Republican primary. Lacher received 55.4 percent of the vote to Stedham's 44.6 percent. The challenger was officially elected following the November 4 general election. She took over for Judge Stedham, who was first elected in 2008, on January 19, 2015. Also in Cleburne County, the district court race between Judge Warren "Glea" Sarrell and challenger Melody Walker resulted in an upset. Walker walked away from the Republican primary with 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarrell's 47.1 percent. She was unopposed in November.

Alabama draws more national attention over judicial elections May 8, 2014

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See also: JP Election Brief: Judicial voting round-up Alabama is one of eight states with full-blown partisan elections for every judge in every court across the state. Like executive and legislative partisan elections, Alabama's judicial election process has become increasingly expensive and contentious. Since 1993, Alabama Supreme Court candidates have raised around $58 million. Alabama candidates for the supreme and intermediate appellate courts have spent over $30 million since 2002. California judges, running in a state with nine times the population of Alabama, spent a comparative $230,000 in the same time period, while running for retention. One of Alabama's most notable campaigns was the 2006 state supreme court race, which turned into the second most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called attention to the issue in 2013 and accused the state's judges of letting their rulings become affected by their need to win re-election. She accused judges of using the power of judicial override to become more popular with their electorate. Judicial override is the power of a judge to throw out the sentence of a jury, and replace it with a sentence of their own, after a jury convicts a defendant. Various groups and politicians have made accusations that the harsher sentences handed down by Alabama judges appear to be an attempt to make themselves seem "tough on crime" during election years. There are supporters of the partisan election system as well. U.S. Appeals Court Judge Bill Pryor, formerly a state judge in Alabama, said that the system works, although it is not perfect. He and others voiced concerns that the high costs associated with judicial elections in the state could discourage qualified candidates from running. However, he feels the current system allows satisfactory judges to be chosen most of the time. Current Alabama Supreme Court Justice Thomas Woodall said the people are not likely to give up their right to vote. Woodall also said that there are no true nonpartisan elections, and that judges fall along party lines because of their philosophical loyalties. In states like Michigan and North Carolina, judges are selected in nonpartisan elections, but are frequently endorsed or funded by political parties or nominated at party conventions. Woodall and Pryor maintained that voters will have more confidence in courts they can keep accountable with elections.

See also

• Alabama judicial elections
• Judicial selection in Alabama

External links

• Alabama Secretary of State

Footnotes

Alabama courts

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Federal courts:

Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama

State courts:

Alabama Supreme Court • Alabama Court of Civil Appeals • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals • Alabama Circuit Courts • Alabama District Courts • Alabama Juvenile Courts • Alabama Municipal Courts • Alabama Probate Courts • Alabama Small Claims Courts

State resources:

Courts in Alabama • Alabama judicial elections • Judicial selection in Alabama