Seven communities across the state held contested races for municipal court judgeships in primaries May 2.

Voters cast ballots in municipal court elections in Celina, Niles, Struthers, Upper Sandusky, Washington C.H., Willoughby, and Youngstown. Among these, only the races for Willoughby Municipal Court in Lake County featured multiple candidates on both the Democrat and Republican ballots.

Other counties did not hold primaries for municipal court seats because of a lack of contested races, because they operate as charter cities and have candidate filing deadlines at later dates in the year, or because Ohio statute requires some municipalities to nominate candidates by nominating petition only.

In the November general election, 105 municipal court seats will be up for election in 50 Ohio counties. By Ohio law, judicial candidates will appear on the general election ballot without party affiliation.

All judges in Ohio are elected to six-year terms. Elections for municipal court judgeships occur in odd-numbered years, while elections for the Ohio Supreme Court, appeals courts, common pleas courts, and county courts occur in even-numbered years.

For more information about judicial candidates, consult Judicial Votes Count or one of Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections.