The March 15 primary election will include Ohio Supreme Court, appeals court, and common pleas court races. In all, Ohio voters will determine 145 judicial seats this year. The Judicial Votes Count website has been updated to provide voters with information about the judicial candidates.

Voters in each of Ohio’s 88 counties can click on their county to get to know their judicial candidates, including their judicial experience and why they are running for that particular judicial seat. For the primary election, just as on the ballot, party affiliation information is available. In addition, race and candidate information for county court seats will be added following the candidates’ filing deadline in August.

Other resources on the website include:

• Voter registration information
• Videos about the different types courts in Ohio
• An explanation of why judges play an important role in our communities.

Judicial Votes Count is a nonpartisan partnership launched before the general election in November 2015, to better educate Ohioans about judges and the Ohio court system, as well as to increase 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 said they don’t vote for judges because they don’t know enough about the candidates.

Judicial Votes Count partners 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 Newspaper Association, and the Ohio Association of Broadcasters.