Board of Elections votes to keep judge candidate on ballot

Unanimous approval made after protest of her candidate petitions.

The Miami County Board of Elections voted unanimously Tuesday to keep the name of Jessica Lopez as a candidate for county Municipal Court judge on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The candidacy of Lopez was challenged by current Judge Gary Nasal. He filed a protest of her candidate petitions, claiming she didn’t to have the required six years of legal practice to run for judge. Lopez currently is the county’s elected recorder.

The elections board heard testimony and arguments in the protest for around 2.5 hours before adjourning into a closed session. Afterward, Chairman Dave Fisher said the board voted, 4-0, to allow Lopez to stay on the ballot.

“I think we all felt that Miss Lopez was practicing law in form as a guardian ad litem … The bar, in the materials that we had, really wasn’t all that high for her to hurdle. It was extremely high for Judge Nasal to prove that she wasn’t practicing law,” Fisher said. An appeal is likely, he said. “My opinion is everybody should have the opportunity to be on the ballot,” Fisher said.

Nasal’s lawyers earlier this month filed a protest of the Lopez candidacy. The protest claimed that Lopez, although a lawyer since fall 2006, had not practiced the required six years.

Lopez and her attorneys disagreed arguing she had practiced since 2006 first in two law firms, then as a guardian ad litem representing the interests of children and then continued to use her skills in her elected position of county recorder.

Nasal has been a judge since 2013. Before that he was the county prosecutor for 18 years. Lopez has been recorder since 2013.

Representing Nasal, lawyer David Greer argued neither the work of a guardian ad litem or the county recorder required the person performing the work to be a licensed lawyer. He said the tasks performed by Lopez in those roles that would have required a law license did not add up to the time that would be needed to go along with the initial years she worked at the two law firms.

Lopez and her lawyer Brodi Conover argued otherwise, saying she has practiced for 15 years.

Lopez testified she performed tasks requiring a lawyer as a guardian ad litem by filing motions and questioning witnesses and as recorder would perform an analysis and conduct research on a legal issue and then work with county prosecutors as office legal advisers to review her findings.

Nasal did not testify during the hearing.