New resource informs public of judicial candidates

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By Frank Lewis

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A recent poll that shows most Ohio voters don’t vote for judicial candidates because they don’t know enough about those candidates, has prompted Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O’Connor to release to the public a new resource to help them with their choice for judge.

JudicialVotesCount.org is a nonpartisan website that features biographies of the municipal court candidates running for judge and all the judicial races on the ballot statewide. O’Connor said knowing that information is important because Ohio voters in 29 counties will decide 56 judgeships on Nov. 3.

In addition to candidate bios, the website includes descriptions about what judges do and the duties of different courts and videos about how Ohio’s court system works. Candidates were also asked to explain their qualifications and their reasons for running for judge.

The website was launched in September after a 2014 survey found most Ohio voters don’t vote for judicial candidates because they don’t know enough about the candidates.

Judicial Votes Count is collaboration among the Ohio State Bar Association, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, and the Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron, the Ohio Newspaper Association, the Ohio Association of Broadcasters, and O’Connor.

“I urge all voters to go to JudicialVotesCount.org to become better educated about who’s on the ballot in order to cast an informed vote for judge,” O’Connor said.

Reach Frank Lewis at 740-353-3101, ext. 1928, or on Twitter @franklewis.

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