Spokane County Superior Court, Washington

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Court

Ballotpedia:Trial Courts
Spokane County Superior Court

The Spokane County Superior Court is one of 32 superior courts in the state of Washington. It presides over Spokane County.[1]

Judges

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Former judges

See also

External links


Washington courts

Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Washington, Western District of Washington • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Washington, Western District of Washington

State courts:

Washington Supreme Court • Washington Court of Appeals • Washington Superior Court • Washington District Courts • Washington Municipal Courts

State resources:

Courts in Washington • Washington judicial elections • Judicial selection in Washington

Elections

See also: Washington judicial elections

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

Selection method

See also: Nonpartisan election of judges

The 186 judges of the superior court are selected in contested elections without reference to party affiliation and must run for re-election when their terms expire. Judges serve for four years.[2]

The chief judge of each court is selected by peer vote, though term lengths vary. The minimum term is one year, though a longer term length may be established by local rules.[2]

Qualifications
To serve on the superior court, a judge must be:[3][2]

  • a resident and qualified voter of the state;
  • admitted to practice law in the courts of record in Washington; and
  • under the age of 75.*

*No judge is eligible to run for office after attaining the age of 75. If a sitting judge turns 75 while serving, he or she may continue serving until the end of that calendar year.[4]

Election rules

Primary election

Primaries are held only if more than two candidates file for a position. These contests are nonpartisan in nature.[5] The two candidates who receive the greatest number of votes in the primary advance to the general election. Until 2013, a candidate who won over 50 percent of the vote in the primary was then unopposed in the general election. But the law was amended in 2013. Since that amendment, the top two finishers in a judicial primary must advance to compete with each other in the general election.[6][7][8]

General election

In counties with a population greater than 100,000, if only one superior court candidate files for election for a judgeship, that candidate is automatically elected and the county does not hold a general election for the seat.[9] According to the 2010 census, the following counties had populations greater than 100,000:[10]


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named dir
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Washington," archived October 3, 2014
  3. ↑ Pierce County, "Residency Requirements," accessed September 24, 2014
  4. ↑ Washington State Legislature, "Washington State Constitution," accessed September 24, 2014 (Scroll to Article IV)
  5. ↑ Washington State Legislature, "RCW 29A.52.220," accessed April 30, 2014
  6. ↑ Washington State Legislature, "RCW 29A.36.170," accessed April 30, 2014
  7. ↑ Washington Courts, "Judicial Election Information," July 13, 2012
  8. ↑ Washington Courts, "2013 Legislative Summary," accessed July 26, 2016
  9. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Judicial Elections in Washington State," accessed April 30, 2014
  10. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Washington: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013," accessed July 24, 2014
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