Voter Registration Deadline to Vote in the 2017 General Election: Tuesday, Oct. 10

General Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 7

Voter Registration Deadline to Vote in the 2017 General Election: Tuesday, Oct. 10

General Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 7

Ohio voters can use Judicial Votes Count, the state’s only nonpartisan, statewide judicial election resource, to learn more about municipal court candidates before casting their ballots in the November general election.

A total of 108 municipal court judge seats will be elected in 52 Ohio counties this year. Nearly 180 candidates have filed for those seats.

Judicial Votes Count – at judicialvotescount.org – presents profiles of judicial candidates, including their judicial experience and why they are running for judge. Other resources on the website include videos about the different types of courts in Ohio and an explanation of why judges play an important role in their communities.

“Research shows that voters in Ohio want information on judicial candidates,” explained Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor. “Judicial Votes Count offers that resource and we hope candidates will fulfill their obligation to present their credentials and that voters, likewise, will educate themselves on judicial candidates before they vote.”

Judicial Votes Count is a nonpartisan partnership launched in 2015 to better educate Ohioans about judges and the Ohio court system. The partnership also seeks to increase meaningful voter participation in judicial elections.

The website was created after a 2014 survey by the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron found that most of 1,067 registered Ohio voters polled said they don’t vote for judges because they don’t know enough about the candidates.

Partners in the Judicial Votes Count project are Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, the Bliss Institute, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio News Media Association, and the Ohio Association of Broadcasters.

Prior to next year’s primary election, the Judicial Votes Count website will list all judicial seats up for election in the state in 2018, as well as information on candidates running for courts at all judicial levels ‒ county court, common pleas court, district appellate court, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Voters in all Ohio counties will elect judges next year.