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Dallam County Court, Texas

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The Dallam County Court resides in Texas. Click on the links below to learn more about the court's...

Jurisdiction

This court holds the following jurisdiction:[1]

Because the Constitution limits each county to a single county court, the Legislature has created statutory county courts at law in more populous counties to aid the single county court in its judicial functions.

The legal jurisdiction of the special county-level trial courts varies considerably and is established by the statute which creates the particular court. The jurisdiction of statutorily-created county courts at law may be concurrent with the jurisdiction of the county and district courts in the county.

The civil jurisdiction of most county courts at law varies but is usually more than that of the justice of the peace courts and less than that of the district courts. County courts at law usually have appellate jurisdiction in cases appealed from justice of the peace and municipal courts.[2]

Selection method

See also: Judicial selection in the states
See also: Partisan election of judges

Judges of the county courts are elected in partisan elections by the county they serve and serve four-year terms, with vacancies filled by a vote of the county commissioners.[3]

Qualifications
To serve on a county court, a judge must:[3]

  • be at least 25 years old;
  • be a resident of his or her respective county for at least two years; and
  • have practiced law or served as a judge for at least four years preceding the election.

Judicial elections in Texas

See also: Texas judicial elections

Texas 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

Partisan primaries are held if even one candidate has filed for a position. To advance to the general election, a candidate must win a majority (over 50 percent) of the vote. If no candidate in a race wins the majority—as in cases where more than two candidates are competing for a seat—a runoff election is held between the top two candidates.[4][5]

Though Texas officially has closed primaries (requiring that voters declare party affiliation in advance in order to participate), the state's primaries are functionally open: registered voters may vote in any single party's primary if they have not voted in the primary of another party. The elections are closed, however, in that voters may not participate in the proceedings (a runoff primary or a convention) of another party thereafter.[4]

General election

The winning candidates from each major party's primary, as well as any additional minor party candidates, compete in a general election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. If a candidate was unopposed in the general election, his or her name will still appear on the general election ballot.[4][6]

See also



External links

Footnotes