Ohio elects its judges in partisan elections, but there are no party labels on the general election ballot for candidates for judge. On July 28, some Ohio judges, and others, filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the state must print party labels on general election ballots. Here is the complaint. The case is Ohio Council of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees v Brunner, 1:10-cv-504, southern district.
Ohio uses partisan primaries to determine who each party nominates for judge, so the partisan affiliation of candidates for judge is obvious at the primary elections. It is only the general election at which party labels are not present. Ohio is the only state with a system with that characteristic. Michigan is somewhat similar. In Michigan, party conventions nominate candidates for State Supreme Court Justice, and then the voters elect them on a November ballot which also lacks party labels.
The lawsuit also attacks rules that make it impossible for candidates for judge to identify their party identification “after the day of the primary.”
The Ohio Democratic Party is one of the plaintiffs. They probably got AFSCME to act as the lead plaintiff, so that you didn’t have ‘Ohio Democratic Party v Brunner’.
Ohio is clearly within its right to use non-partisan election of judges (and non-judicial officers if it so chose). So it is really the nomination process that is inconsistent. The law about non-partisan judicial general elections is pretty clear and explicit. Somehow Ohio has managed not to provide non-partisan nomination for judicial offices, even though they do have nomination procedures for other non-partisan offices such as the state board of education, school boards, and some local elections.
Any attacks by the party hacks on entire NON-partisan elections ???
See NE – one house alleged NON-partisan State legislature since about 1934.