Maryland local trial court judicial elections, 2019

Maryland 2019 elections How to run for office

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2019 Trial court elections

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Elections information

Election dates • State judicial elections Poll opening and closing times

Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. This coverage extends to every office on the ballot for residents of these cities, including local trial court judges. Since those cities in this state did not have elections in 2019, Ballotpedia did not cover local trial court judicial elections in this state in 2019.

Click here to learn more about how the judges in this state are selected. Please consider donating to Ballotpedia to help us expand our coverage of these elections.

Election rules

Primary election

Circuit and orphans' court judges compete in a partisan primary for the Republican and/or Democratic nomination. Candidates cross-file with both parties. The candidates who receive the most votes from each primary advance to the general election to compete against each other, as well as any minor party or independent candidates.

An example of the elections process for the circuit courts is provided by the Maryland State Board of Elections:

“	In Circuit X, there are two incumbent judges who must stand for election. They are candidates A and B, a Democrat and Republican respectively. They both file Certificates of Candidacy to appear on both the Democratic and Republican Primary ballots. Candidate C, a Democrat and qualified member of the Bar also files a Certificate of Candidacy to appear on both the Democratic and Republican primary ballots. In the primary election, the Democratic Party selects candidates A and C (i.e. those two candidates received the most votes) and the Republican Party selects candidates A and B. In the general election candidates A, B, and C all will appear on the ballot since they each won one or both of the primary elections in which they appeared on the ballot. On the general election ballot, in addition to candidates A, B, and C, candidate D will also appear on the ballot. Candidate D is a member of the Green Party and a qualified member of the Bar and received the Green Party's nomination. The two candidates who receive the most votes will be elected to office.	”
—Maryland State Board of Elections

General election

Trial court judge candidates who advanced from the partisan primary run in the general election without party affiliation.

Judicial selection method

See also: Assisted appointment

The 152 judges of the eight Maryland circuits are chosen by the governor with help from a nominating commission. The judges of this court do not need to be confirmed by the Maryland State Senate.

Circuit judges serve for one year, after which they must run in nonpartisan elections if they wish to continue serving. If re-elected, they serve for 15 years.

The chief judge of each circuit court is chosen by seniority.

Qualifications
To join either of these courts, a judge must be:

• a U.S. and state citizen;
• a registered state voter;
• a state resident for at least five years;
• a circuit resident for at least six months;
• a state bar member;
• at least 30 years old; and
• under the age of 70 (retirement at 70 is mandatory).

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in Maryland. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won Maryland with 60.3 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 33.9 percent. In presidential elections between 1789 and 2016, Maryland voted Democratic 52 percent of the time and Republican 21 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Maryland voted Democratic all five times.

See also

Local courts	Maryland	Other local coverage
Local trial court judicial elections, 2019 Courts and judges by county Judicial selection by state Judicial elections	Maryland elections, 2019 Judicial selection in Maryland Public policy in Maryland Endorsers in Maryland	Municipal elections, 2019 School board elections, 2019 Local ballot measure elections, 2019 Recall elections, 2019

External links

• Maryland State Board of Elections

Footnotes

Maryland courts

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Federal courts:

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Maryland • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Maryland

State courts:

Maryland Supreme Court • Appellate Court of Maryland • Maryland District Courts • Maryland Circuit Courts • Maryland Orphans' Court

State resources:

Courts in Maryland • Maryland judicial elections • Judicial selection in Maryland