September 1, 2020

2020 Columbus Bar Association Judiciary Committee Findings

This year, there are ten contested judicial races on the ballot for Franklin County Courts.

The Columbus Bar Association provides information on Franklin County judicial candidates in a variety of ways, including candidate biographies on our "Judge the Candidates" website, attorney poll results, and the results of the CBA Judicial Screening Committee.

What is the Judicial Screening Committee?
The Columbus Bar Association's Judicial Screening Committee, made up of around 20 members, conducts interviews with judicial candidates in order to get a better idea of their character. This information is compiled into an easily accessible document geared toward helping the public learn more about the candidates. The CBA strives to have a politically balanced Committee in order to reduce the influence of partisanship.

How does the Committee reach its findings?
Candidates are independently evaluated by the Columbus Bar Association Judiciary Committee through interviews, review of questionnaire answers and past performance evaluations, if applicable. The committee then votes for one of three categories: Highly Recommended, Recommended, or Not Recommended. To be found Not Recommended, a candidate must have been so rated by more than 70 percent of the votes. In all other cases, the candidate shall be designated Highly Recommended or Recommended, whichever of those designations has a majority of the votes.

The CBA does not endorse any judicial candidate; our role is to provide impartial, non-partisan information about the judicial candidates in any given election year. All results from the Judicial Screening Committee are available online for public consumption. This year's results are available to the right.