Inc. Currently, the state constitution requires that all judges be elected. When elections are uncontested, the candidate is declared the winner without ever appearing on the ballot. A 1996 PAR study examined all Louisiana judicial elections at the district court level and above from 1990 to 1994. Judicial incumbents are rarely challenged or defeated in state elections. The majority of contested elections in Louisiana are won by the candidate who spends the most money.
Judges often end elections with large campaign debts.
The issue of merit selection versus election of judges was debated as far back as the Constitutional Convention of 1921 and again when the 1974 Constitution was being written. The election method for selecting judges was adopted in both instances. Bills to move to merit selection have been regularly debated in the Legislature since 1990. In 1995, a proposed constitutional amendment to implement merit selection received a majority vote in the house, but failed to get the two-thirds vote needed for passage. Merit selection is a method of appointing judges used by 20 states to select all or a portion of their judges.