Few La. appeals court judges get election challenges

Twenty-two state appeals court judgeships are on the Nov. 6 ballot, but voters will only make choices in five of those races. More than three-quarters of the jobs were handed to candidates because they attracted no opposition before the qualifying period closed Friday. Just one state appeals court race with challengers encompasses East Baton Rouge Parish. “It’s a normal pattern,” says Ginger Sawyer, who has followed judicial races for two decades in her work for the LABI. While most of those elected without opposition were incumbents, five candidates are getting 10-year appellate court terms for the first time without even a challenge. All are district court judges moving up the judicial system ladder. In Louisiana, elections for the judiciary often attract interest only from the business and legal communities that are most invested in the outcome of court decisions. Stacia Haynie, a political science professor at LSU, calls judicial races “low-information elections” where incumbents have an advantage and candidates are often on a professional track that leads from one level of the judiciary up to the next. “They just don’t draw a lot of attention, either from people who would be potential challengers or from the voters,” she says. Read the full story here.