Eighty-eight district judge candidates submitted to the state last month enough voter signatures to get on the 2016 ballot without having to pay thousands of dollars in filing fees, state records show.
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http://www.arkansas…">Judicial, prosecuting attorney candidates who filed to run by petition
But they had to travel to downtown Little Rock to do it, and some of them weren't happy about that.
District judge candidates are now required, under Act 1286 of 2013, to file for office with the secretary of state's office rather than in county clerks' offices around the state.
Fifty-four full-time state district judge seats and 44 part-time, local-level district judge seats are on the March 1 ballot, said Kevin Caviness, an attorney with the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts.
A dozen other candidates for circuit judge, prosecuting attorney and Court of Appeals also saved the filing fees by submitting enough signatures from registered voters to get on the ballot.
Only one candidate who submitted a petition failed to qualify for the ballot, said Chris Powell, a spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin.
To qualify, a candidate must collect a certain number of valid signatures of voters registered in the particular district. The number must be 1 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the previous election, or 2,000 signatures -- whichever is less -- Powell said.
If a district judge candidate doesn't collect the required signatures, he must pay the state -- during the November filing period -- a filing fee of 3 percent of the job's annual salary.
The salary is $140,000 a year for the state's 54 full-time district judge posts, so the filing fee would be $4,200. The annual salaries for the 44 part-time district judges on the ballot next year are lower and vary across the state, said Caviness.
Turning in the signatures is "certainly more economical," said Baxter County District Judge Van Gearhart of Mountain Home, who is president of the state's district judges council and isn't seeking re-election next year after 21 years in the job.
He was required to collect fewer than 200 signatures to qualify for the ballot three years ago, he recalled.
Gearhart said collecting signatures of registered voters is a good way to meet people and campaign.
Pope County District Judge Don Bourne of Russellville, who has served in his post for 15 years, said he successfully filed a petition with at least 173 signatures last month.
"There is a benefit to gather signatures if you interact with a person who you'll ask to vote for you in a few months," he said, adding that it's also a good way to get feedback from the public about his job performance.
His opponent, attorney John Burnett of Atkins, said he turned in more than 173 signatures, too. "It was simply a matter of economics," Burnett said.
Bourne said he would prefer to file for office at the Pope County clerk's office. "It is much more convenient for those of us, who have a one-county district, to file locally," he said.
But not all district judge candidates file petitions. Some pay the filing fees, which must be submitted during the first week of November.
State Sen. David Johnson, D-Little Rock, said he hopes to run for a state district judgeship, serving Jacksonville and Maumelle, but decided to skip the signature-gathering process.
About 127,000 votes were cast for governor in Pulaski County in previous general election, so 1 percent of them would be about 1,270.
Johnson said it's "a number too big to manage the process."
"It's a bigger job in Pulaski County than anywhere else," he said. "I prefer to spend my time on other campaign activities."
In addition to the district judges races, Arkansas will have other judicial and prosecutor races on the ballot for the March 1 primary. There will be 19 circuit judge seats up of election, four Court of Appeals seats, two state Supreme Court seats and a prosecuting attorney's post.
The filing fee for chief justice of the Supreme Court is $10,800 for the post's $180,000 salary, $9,900 for the associate justice's $166,500 salary, $8,075 for the Court of Appeals judge's $161,500 salary, $6,400 for the circuit judge's $160,000 salary, and $4,560 for the prosecutor's $152,000 salary.
Twelve of those candidates filed petitions to successfully avoid having to pay filing fees.
To avoid paying the filing fee for a circuit judge position, the candidate must collect valid signatures from 3 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots for governor in their district in the previous election, or 2,000 signatures -- whichever is less -- Powell said.
Three attorneys, who are seeking the 12th Judicial Circuit judge's post that's currently held by retiring Jim Spears, filed petitions, state records show.
Fort Smith attorneys Phil Milligan and Shannon L. Blatt filed successful petitions, but Fort Smith attorney Dianna Hewitt Ladd's petition didn't meet the requirements, and she will have to pay the filing fee if she enters the race, said Powell. Ladd could not be reached for comment by telephone Friday.
Milligan said he turned in a petition with about 1,300 signatures, about 300 more than needed, to avoid having to pay filing fee.
"It gets you out to meet voters early on," he added.
Blatt said she turned in at least 2,000 signatures and needed only about 960.
"To me, it was very important to get on the ballot by petition instead of spending over $6,000," she said. "It gave me an opportunity to start a grass-roots campaign and make contact with people, " Blatt said.
The nonpartisan filing period for judges and prosecutors begins at 3 p.m. Nov. 2 and ends at 3 p.m. Nov. 9.
The filing period for party primaries begins at noon Nov. 2 and ends at noon Nov. 9.
Two years ago, the secretary of state's office received 92 petitions from money-saving judicial and prosecuting attorney candidates across the state -- more than double the 39 petitions filed in 2012. Ninety were certified.
One of the factors contributing to the increase in 2014 was a 2013 election law change that made the prosecuting attorney's race nonpartisan. Fifteen of the 90 petitions were from candidates for prosecutor positions, 70 were for circuit court positions, three were for district courts and two were for the Court of Appeals.
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