ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The clerk’s office of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, conducted a run-off election for the Eastern District attorney member on the Appellate Judicial Commission on December 9, 2023. Thomas C. Clark II, chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, and two attorneys counted ballots using the election software beginning at 10 a.m. at the court’s office located in the historic Old Post Office Building in downtown St. Louis.
This year’s election was conducted completely electronically in accordance with procedures adopted by the Supreme Court of Missouri under Rule 10.165, with a very limited exception for those individuals receiving an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and newly admitted lawyers to The Missouri Bar.
The Appellate Judicial Commission is charged with selecting panels of three candidates for judicial vacancies on the state’s intermediate appellate court districts and the Supreme Court of Missouri. The governor makes the final selection from the three nominees. The results of the election are as follows:
Jennifer Hardester 1,418 votes
Christopher Graville 1,198 votes
Accordingly, Hardester is duly elected to the Appellate Judicial Commission for a six-year term commencing January 1, 2024. The term of the present Eastern District attorney member, Thomas Neill, expires December 31, 2023.
The Eastern District of Missouri consists of the following counties and the city of St. Louis: Audrain, Cape Girardeau, Clark, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Osage, Perry, Pike, Ralls, St. Charles, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Scotland, Shelby, Warren and Washington.