The state’s prosecutors association has come out against what is easily the least controversial issue on the statewide ballot. Issue 1 changes the constitution to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. But John Murphy with the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association says that means some judges could possibly be on the bench in their early 80s, and he admits that some octogenarian judges perform fine.
"Our concern is that there are a whole lot more who perhaps cannot and the cost of any limit like this is that you do cut off certain people but you also keep some people out of the office who perhaps shouldn't be there."
The late Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Tom Moyer, was among those who suggested the mandatory retirement limit needed to be raised. The resolution to put the change before voters passed overwhelmingly in the House and unanimously in the Senate.