Clerk of court election ruled a partisan race

3/28/2013

Candidates for clerk of Toledo Municipal Court will run for nomination to the office in a partisan primary election, Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine said in an opinion issued Wednesday.

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates had requested the legal opinion on behalf of the county board of elections. It wanted to know whether state law or the Toledo city charter would apply to the municipal clerk of courts’ race.

Mrs. Bates said her office believed an amended state law, which calls for a partisan primary election for the clerk of Toledo Municipal Court, applied.

The city charter calls for a nonpartisan primary. “It means Vallie Bowman-English runs as a Democrat,” she said, referring to the incumbent clerk.