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Jefferson County Court at Law, Texas

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

Jurisdiction

For more information about judicial jurisdiction, click here.

Selection method

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

Judges on the Statutory County Courts, also known as the County Courts at Law, are elected in partisan elections at a county level. They serve four-year terms, with vacancies filled by a vote of the county commissioners.[1] The statutory county courts (county courts at law) were established by the Texas Legislature.[1]

To serve on this court, a judge must:

  • 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.[1]

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.[2][3]

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.[2]

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.[2][4]

See also



External links

Footnotes