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Coffee County District Court, Alabama

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The Coffee County District Court resides in Alabama. Click on the links below to learn more about the court's...

Jurisdiction

This court holds the following jurisdiction:[1]

District courts have jurisdiction over criminal misdemeanor offenses and the preliminary hearings held in felony prosecutions. District courts also have jurisdiction in civil matters where the amount in con- troversy exceeds $3,000, but does not exceed $10,000. Each county has a district court.[2]

Selection method

See also: Judicial selection in the states
See also: Partisan elections

There are 98 judgeships on the Alabama District Courts, each elected to six-year terms. The elections for this court are partisan contested elections. To serve on this court, a judge must have been licensed to practice law for three years.[3]

Judicial elections in Alabama

See also: Alabama judicial elections

Alabama is one of 11 states that uses partisan elections to select judges and does not use retention elections for subsequent terms. To read more about how states use judicial elections to select judges across the country, click here.

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.[4] Primary elections in years without a presidential primary are held on the first Tuesday in June.[5] 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 vote recipients in the primary advance to the runoff. Primary runoffs are held six weeks after the primary election.[6][7]

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.[8] Political parties can make rules restricting who participates in primaries, and residents can only vote in a single party's primary.[9]

General election

Alabama general elections are held on the first Tuesday in November of every even-numbered year. If a victory margin is within 0.5 percent, an automatic recount will take place unless the defeated candidate waives his or her right to the recount.[10]

See also



External links

Footnotes