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JUDICIAL ELECTIONS 2021:
Senate Bill 80 and Why You Should Take the CBA Judicial Poll
Alex Triantafilou | Gwen McFarlin | Elizabeth Brown | John J. Williams
For several years, the Cincinnati Bar Association has circu- lated an anonymous and non-partisan survey of judicial candidates to its members for their evaluation of their colleagues. The questions measure a candidate’s acuity in a variety of areas, including administrative diligence, community engage- ment, communication skills, integrity/impartiality/objectivity, legal experience, and professionalism/temperament, from the attorneys who regularly see them in action.
The CBA partners with the League of Women Voters to share the poll results with the Greater Cincinnati community, and to host a series of public forums with the judicial candidates. In 2020, the forums were moved to Zoom. This year’s forums will be announced at a later date — please visit cincybar.org/judicial- survey for more details.
In June of 2021, Ohio Senate Bill 80 was passed, requiring the party affiliation of Ohio Court of Appeals districts and Ohio Supreme Court judicial candidates to appear on ballots.
We posed the following questions to Alex Triantafilou, chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party; Gwen McFarlin, chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party; Elizabeth Brown, chair of the League of Women Voters — Cincinnati; and John J. Williams, chair of the Cincinnati Bar Association’s committee on the judiciary.
What are your thoughts on the passage of Senate Bill 80 that puts the party affiliation of Ohio Court of Appeals districts and Ohio Supreme Court judicial candidates on the ballot?
AT:I support it. As a former judicial candidate, the one question regularly asked by voters during campaign season is about party affiliation. It educates the public and
provides more transparency.
EB:The League of Women Voters has a strong position supporting the nonpartisan election of judges and, therefore, opposed SB 80. Its passage reflects the increasing partisan divide in our society that too often overcomes good
government.
GM:I question why this discussion is occurring at this time, why is there a movement to change the rules? Senate Bill 80 from my perspective is trying to create different rules for appellate and trial court judges. It is not clear to me what the purpose or benefit of such a bifurcated system would be. This will erode the public trust in judges by creating a judicial system driven by politics instead of an open, fair, and transparent judi-
cial system.
JW:Party affiliation has no place in a system that is supposed to be non-partisan.
www.CincyBar.org
CBA REPORT | September/October l 5
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