Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor: A resource for judicial races

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 29, 2021

Editor’s note: This piece was sent to newspapers across the state. While there are no judicial races on Lawrence County ballots this year, we encourage readers to remember this tool in future races and to pass it on to those in other counties.

With less than two weeks left before Election Day, I want to remind Ohioans of the Judicial Votes Count resource to help them with their choice for judge.

JudicialVotesCount.com is a nonpartisan website that features biographies of the municipal court candidates running for judge. Ohio voters in 23 counties will decide 47 judgeships on Nov. 2.

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In addition to candidate bios, the website describes what judges do, the duties of different courts, and videos about how Ohio’s court system works.

The Judicial Votes Count initiative is the only statewide information resource covering all judicial races in the state each year. Not only does it help Ohioans learn about the important work judges do in our communities, but it highlights candidates each year who are asked to explain their qualifications and their reasons for running for judge.

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

I urge all voters to go to JudicialVotesCount.com to become better educated about who’s on the ballot so they can cast informed votes for Ohio’s judges.

Maureen O’Connor is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio