14 attorneys running for 5 open seats

Five Broward Circuit Court judges will be retiring when their term expires at the end of the year, and 14 attorneys are vying to take their place.

Judges Ilona Holmes, Paul Backman, Mark Speiser, Geoffrey Cohen and Peter Weinstein are not seeking re-election.

The qualifying period to run in the Aug. 28 primary ended May. 4

According to state election records:

Attorneys Shari Beth Africk-Olefson and Kristin Weisberg Padowitz are running for the Group 36 seat now held by Backman.

Susan Lynn Alspector and Camille CoolidgeShotwell are running for the Group 39 seat now held by Speiser.

The winners of those races will go on to serve in a six-year term beginning in January.

Jason Allen-Rosner, Melissa Minsk Donoho, Linda Marie Leali, and Stefanie Camille Moon will compete for the Group 38 seat now held by Holmes.

Karen Elizabeth Berger, Dan Casey and Phyllis Pritcher-Westphal are running for the Group 43 seat now held by Cohen.

H. James Curry, Maria Markhasin-Weekes, and Walter “Dale” Miller are seeking to replace Weinstein in the Group 46 seat.

Unless one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in August, the top two vote-getters will face each other in the general election on Nov. 6.

Two incumbents drew challengers.

Judge Ernest A. Kollra will face real estate and family lawyer Alan B. Schneider in Group 8, while Judge Michael Usan will defend his Group 42 seat against Richard Brian Kaplan, civil litigation director of the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, which picks up cases that cannot be handled by the Public Defender’s Office because of conflicts of interest.

In most of the state, circuit courts cover more than one county. Broward is the only county in the 17th judicial circuit, but unlike County Court judges, their role is to handle felonies and larger civil lawsuits, including foreclosures.

The races are nonpartisan.

Sixteen judges were automatically re-elected May 4 because no one qualified to run against them:

Group 1:

Phillips.

Group 5:

Lopane.

Group

Haimes.

Group 10: Group 19:

Rothschild.

7:

Ari Porth. Michael Ian Fabienne Elizabeth Fahnestock. Jose

Group 25: Group

Izquierdo.

Group 31: 28:

Timothy Bailey.

Group 32:

Robinson.

Group 34: Group 35:

Frink. Martin Fein. Keathan

Group 40: Group 44:

Yael Gamm. Tom Coleman.

Group 45: Group 57:

Al Ribas. Michele Towbin Singer. Marina G.

Group 58:

Wood. Carol Lisa Nicholas David Michael