There is a lot of excitement surrounding this presidential election and different sources, such as the news media and voting rights organizations, believe there will be record voter turn out.

 

However, the ballot this year will be long, with a lot of candidates. It is going to be easy to just vote for President and leave the voting booth, without looking at, or understanding the rest of your ballot, including the candidates running for Judge.

 

But democracy doesn’t start and end with the president. Our system has three branches – the Executive branch (president or county executive), the Legislative branch (federal and state legislators and county council people), and the Judicial branch (federal, state and local judges). 

 

Judges at all levels have a responsibility to protect your constitutional rights. The court system can affect your life personally, and you should help choose those judges.

 

VoteforJudge.org says: Judges make all kinds of decisions, from the very personal, such as child custody decisions, to those with much broader impact.  The decisions that judges make affect our lives, both directly and indirectly, often for many years to come.  We never know when a judge we vote for today will make a decision that will affect your life and the lives of your family and friends.

 

It is our responsibility to vote for judges we can trust to make impartial decisions based on fair consideration of the facts and law.  In some cases, this means that judges may make unpopular or controversial decisions.  We need to trust that our judges can make those right decisions without regard to political or economic pressure.  That’s why it is so important to vote for qualified people to be judges.

 

Please take a few extra moments and continue down the ballot beyond the presidential race and vote for the rest of the candidates and issues. When you get to the Summit County Common Pleas Court races, please vote for Deborah Matz

 

Thank you,

 

Magistrate Deborah Matz