Benton County District Judge Election 2028

What is on the ballot

Benton County has four state district court divisions, and a district judge serves a four-year term (Amendment 80 § 16; A.C.A. § 16-17-209(b)). Because all four divisions were last contested in the same cycle, all four are next contested together in 2028: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4.

A division is the elected office. It is not the same thing as a department or a courthouse, and the division a city sits in does not tell you which judge hears its cases — see the judges and divisions page for how the three fit together.

How the election works

Judicial races in Arkansas are nonpartisan (A.C.A. § 7-10-102). Candidates do not run as the nominee of a party, and no party label appears beside their names. The judicial race sits on the same ballot as partisan races, under different rules. There are no write-in candidates for these offices: a person cannot file as a write-in, and a write-in vote is not counted (A.C.A. § 7-5-205).

The contest itself is called the nonpartisan general election, and it is held in March of the election year alongside the preferential primary. If the race is not resolved there, a nonpartisan runoff election is held with the November general election. More on how Arkansas judicial elections work.

Who can run for district judge

These requirements are set by the Arkansas Constitution and by statute — they are law, not local practice, and they apply to every candidate equally. A candidate for district judge must:

• be a United States citizen (Ark. Const. art. 3 § 1);
• be an Arkansas resident (Ark. Const. art. 3 § 1);
• be at least eighteen years old (Ark. Const. art. 3 § 1);
• be lawfully registered to vote (Ark. Const. art. 3 § 1);
• have been a licensed Arkansas attorney for at least four years immediately preceding the date of assuming office (Amendment 80 § 16; A.C.A. § 16-17-104, § 16-17-209);
• be a qualified elector of, and reside in, the geographical area they seek to serve, at the time of election and throughout their service (Amendment 80 § 16; A.C.A. § 16-17-103, § 16-17-209).

Certain convictions are disqualifying (Ark. Const. art. 5 § 9; A.C.A. § 21-8-305), and a sitting judge may not file as a candidate for non-judicial office while holding judicial office (Amendment 80 § 15; A.C.A. § 16-10-118).

How a candidate gets on the ballot

There are two routes, and a candidate uses one or the other.

• Pay the filing fee. For a state district judge the fee is 3% of the annual salary of the office, set by the State Board of Election Commissioners (A.C.A. § 7-10-103(b)(1)). It is paid to the Secretary of State, together with the Political Practices Pledge.
• File a petition instead. A petition for district judge must be signed by at least 1% of the qualified electors residing in the district the candidate seeks to serve, and no more than 2,000 signatures may be required. The petition is filed with the Secretary of State, who then has forty-five days to verify it.

What the timeline looks like

The 2028 calendar has not been published. What can be said now is how far ahead the process runs, and the last completed cycle shows it. These are the 2026 nonpartisan judicial dates, from the official guide — they are here to show the spacing, not to predict 2028:

• July 2025 — first day to circulate petitions for ballot access, about twenty months before the election.
• September 2025 — the one-week window to file those petitions with the Secretary of State.
• November 2025 — the filing-fee period, roughly a week long, for candidates taking that route.
• March 3, 2026 — the nonpartisan general election.
• November 3, 2026 — the nonpartisan runoff election, for any race that needed one.

The practical point for a voter is that the field is effectively settled more than a year before the vote, and the ballot is decided in March rather than November.

How to register and vote

To vote in this race you must be registered in Benton County. Registration, deadlines, polling places and sample ballots are all handled by official authorities, and this site does not restate them — a stale deadline here could cost someone their vote. Use the official voter resources to register, to check that your registration is current, and to find where you vote.

How this page is maintained

As the election approaches, this page will publish the confirmed election date, the filing period, and the candidates who have officially filed — each with a link to the official source and the date it was verified. Until a detail is confirmed against that source, it is not printed here at all.