Credit: John G for The Marshall Project

Often, Clevelanders skip voting for judges because they don’t have enough information to pick between candidates. Or the information that they can find doesn’t answer their questions. 

Overall, people vote less for judges than for other elected positions, such as president or governor or city council member.

Judges decide the fate of thousands of Clevelanders each year. But in 2020, only about a quarter of votes in countywide judges’ races came from Cleveland residents. Suburban voters, especially people in whiter and wealthier suburbs, were more likely to mark their ballots in those races.  

The Marshall Project and Signal Cleveland are creating a guide to help people get to know local judges and to learn more about the candidates running for judge. We’ll launch the guide with some basics next month and continue to build it based on feedback from community members. 

Since there’s a primary election in March – with opportunities to vote starting in February –  want to know what YOU want to know from people campaigning for the job. (Here’s what some residents previously told Cleveland Documenters.)

Share your question in the form below.

The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. Through a partnership with Signal Cleveland, The Marshall Project is weaving more resident voices into its reporting and building an understanding about how the justice system works — and doesn’t work — in Cleveland.