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Arizona local trial court judicial elections, 2016

From Ballotpedia

Seventeen superior court seats in Arizona were up for partisan election in 2016. Another 61 superior court seats were up for retention election in this cycle. All seats were won and retained by the incumbent judges.

Nine of the state's 15 counties held party primaries for superior court seats on August 30, 2016. Only one race saw more than one candidate file; Gary Griffith filed to challenge incumbent Michael Peterson on the Graham County Superior Court. As both candidates filed to run in the Republican primary, the contest between them was decided on the August ballot, with Peterson defeating Griffith. No race saw both a Republican and a Democrat file.

Three counties—Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal—have retention elections for their superior courts. Those elections were held in conjunction with the general election on November 8, 2016.

In counties where more than one superior court seat was up for election, an arbitrary division was assigned to each seat for the purpose of holding individual elections for each seat. The divisions did not refer to or apply to anything beyond the election organization.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Candidates

Apache

Apache County

No superior court judicial seats are up for election in Apache County in 2016.[9]

Cochise

Cochise County

Division 4

☑ Karl D. Elledge (i) Republican Party

Division 5

☑ James Conlogue (i) Democratic Party

Coconino

Coconino County

Division 3

☑ Mark Moran (i) Democratic Party

Division 5

☑ Cathleen Nichols (i) Democratic Party

Gila

Gila County

Division 1

☑ Bryan Chambers (i) Republican Party

Graham

Graham County

Greenlee

Greenlee County

No superior court judicial seats are up for election in Greenlee County in 2016.

La Paz

La Paz County

No superior court judicial seats are up for election in La Paz County in 2016.[10]

Maricopa

Maricopa County Superior Court

The following 40 Maricopa County Superior Court justices faced and won retention elections in the general election:

Mohave

Mohave County

Division 5

☑ Rick Williams (i) Republican Party[11]

Navajo

Navajo County

Division 2

☑ Robert James Higgins (i) Democratic Party

Division 3

☑ Dale Nielson (i) Democratic Party

Division 4

☑ Michala M. Ruechel (i) Democratic Party

Pima

Pima County

The following 16 Pima County Superior Court justices faced and won retention elections in the general election:

Did not seek retention

Pinal

Pinal County

The following five Pinal County Superior Court justices faced and won retention elections in the general election:

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz County

Division 2

☑ Anna M. Montoya-Paez (i) Democratic Party

Yavapai

Yavapai County

Division 4

☑ Patricia Trebesch (i) Republican Party

Division 7

☑ Michael Bluff (i) Republican Party

Yuma

Yuma County

Division 1

☑ Mark Wayne Reeves (i) Democratic Party

Division 4

☑ David M. Haws (i) Republican Party

Division 5 (unexpired term)

☑ Roger Nelson (i) Republican Party

Division 6

☑ Maria Elena Cruz (i) Democratic Party

Election rules

Primary election

Judges of the Arizona Superior Court in counties with populations under 250,000 are chosen in a partisan primary then face nonpartisan general elections.[12]

Candidates for the Arizona Justice Courts participate in primary elections throughout the state.[13]

General election

Arizona general elections are held on the first Tuesday in November of every even-numbered year. If a victory margin is within one half of one percent, there will be an automatic recount unless the defeated candidate provides a waiver to the recount.[14]

Candidates that advanced from the partisan primary compete in the general election. Appellate court judges as well as superior court judges in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties stand for retention.[13]

Retention election

In counties with populations greater than 250,000—Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties—superior court judges are chosen through a merit selection system. In these counties, judges are appointed by the governor with the help of a selection commission. At the end of their term, the judges remain in office through uncontested retention elections every four years.[12]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Arizona judicial election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cochise County, Arizona, "Candidate List and Filings," accessed June 11, 2016
  2. ↑ Coconino County, Arizona, "Candidates That Have Filed for County Offices," accessed June 11, 2016
  3. ↑ Graham County, Arizona, "Candidates & Ballot Questions," accessed June 11, 2016
  4. ↑ Greenlee County Elections, "County offices up for election," accessed June 11, 2016
  5. ↑ Navajo County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Candidate Contact Sheet," accessed June 11, 2016
  6. ↑ Santa Cruz, County, "2016 Candidate Filings," accessed June 11, 2016
  7. ↑ Yavapai County, Arizona, "Candidate Report," June 9, 2016
  8. ↑ Yuma County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Election Candidates," accessed June 11, 2016
  9. ↑ Apache County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Election Candidate Contact Sheet," accessed July 18, 2016
  10. ↑ Parker Pioneer.net, "La Paz County candidates are in," June 8, 2016
  11. ↑ Mohave County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Election," accessed July 18, 2016
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Maricopa County Website, "Judicial Biographies," accessed April 28, 2014
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Arizona," archived October 2, 2014
  14. ↑ Arizona Election Code, "§17-16-20," accessed April 29, 2014

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