Ohio Ballots Will List Party Affiliations for Top Judicial Candidates

A change to Ohio’s ballot rules could impact key Supreme Court races in 2022 and influence the leaning of the state’s highest court for years to come.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law Thursday that will list candidates’ party affiliations on ballots for certain judicial races. This will include races for the Ohio Supreme Court as well as the dozen appellate court districts.

Ohio’s election system is currently unique in that judicial candidates campaign in partisan primaries, but the November General Election lists them without party affiliation. This is ostensibly to promote judicial independence, but is thought to contribute to significant ballot “drop off” — more than 1 million Ohio voters in 2020 left the two Supreme Court races blank.

Republican supporters of adding ballot party affiliation say this change is necessary to provide more information to voters and also because the campaign trail already features partisan spending, endorsements and advertising.

Read more: https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2021/07/02/ohio-ballots-will-list-party-affiliations-for-top-judicial-candidates