South Carolina and Alabama

South Carolina has three distinct Courts that all require the election of judges. The South Carolina Supreme Court, the court of appeals, and the South Carolina circuit courts. South Carolina used to depend on their legislature for the hiring of their judges, but this method came under fire after too many judges elected seemed to only be there because of who they knew. It was not an unbiased method, and therefore it was changed to having each judge in each court elected by the majority of the public. A fair unbiased method that would not raise any eyebrows.

http://www.judicial.state.sc.us/judges/howjudgeselected.cfm

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/judicialmeritpage/HowJudgesAreElectedInSC011110.pdf

http://www.judicialselection.com/judicial_selection/index.cfm?state=SC

Alabama is different than South Carolina in that it requires all judges to be licensed in law from the state of Alabama. The state also requires that all judges in the Supreme Court, Circuit Court, and District Courts to have 12 months of previous experience in either the Circuit or District Courts. Judges are elected by partisan elections and as long as they are full time are appointed as judges for four years. To be a part time judge means you are only employed for two years. There is a lot of controversy among the partisan elections in Alabama because there is not a limit on how much can be donated to a potential judge for candidacy.  

http://judicial.alabama.gov/appl_qual_elect_appt.cfm

http://judgepedia.org/Judicial_selection_in_Alabama

http://www.eji.org/files/judicialselection.pdf