Democratic incumbent Tavia Galonski is facing Republican challenger Katie Reed for the Summit County Clerk of Courts job.
Galonski was appointed to the role in January after Sandra Kurt, her predecessor, was elected to serve as clerk of the Akron Municipal Court. Galonski is running for her first full term as the county clerk.
Republican challenger Katie Reed is currently the Barberton Municipal Clerk of Courts, a position she was appointed to in July 2023 after the former clerk, Diana Stevenson, vacated the role to become a Barberton Municipal Court judge. Reed was previously the chief deputy clerk. She has never held elected office.
The Summit County Clerk of Courts’ office is divided into two divisions: Legal and Title.
- The Legal Division keeps records for the Summit County Common Pleas Court, the Summit County Domestic Relations Court and the Ninth District Court of Appeals.
- The Title Division issues licenses for motor vehicles and watercraft and processes passport applications.
Galonski, 58, was previously a state representative for Ohio’s 35th District from 2017 to 2022, and the 33rd District from 2023 to January 2024 — both serve residents in the Akron area. If elected, she said she plans to continue updating the court’s case management system to enhance accessibility for residents.
One change Galonski made to the Summit County Clerk of Courts’ website was to include an e-filing portal for litigants to quickly access their documents. She credits her interest in improving public accessibility to her career as a Delta Air Lines flight attendant from the 1980s to early 2000s.
“I’m very interested in improving customer service and bringing it up to the highest level,” Galonski said.
🗳️For more on this year’s November election, visit our Election Signals 2024 page.
Galonski worked as a flight attendant during both her undergraduate education at Emory University in Atlanta, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and while earning her law degree from the University of Akron.
Galonski served as a magistrate in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas prior to her career in the Ohio Statehouse. She previously ran in two Akron judicial races in 2005 and 2014, but lost both bids.
She lives in Akron.
Reed wants to increase training, communication as clerk
As the Barberton Municipal Clerk of Courts, Reed renovated the clerk’s web portal and secured a $41,700 grant last summer from the Ohio Supreme Court to improve the office’s technology and security.
“The responsibility has obviously grown as I’ve become clerk,” Reed said about her time in Barberton.
If elected at the county level, Reed said she aspires to increase training for office staff, as well as improve communication with the clerk’s constituents, from the judges and court staff to attorneys and the public.
“The court needs us, and we need the court,” Reed said. “That communication is key.”
Reed began her career in public service in 2019 as a judicial bailiff at the Akron Municipal Court, where she worked under Judge Ann Marie O’Brien, managing court schedules and overseeing courtroom operations.
Before entering the court system, she worked as a campaign manager for judicial races, including Judge Jennifer Hensal’s 2018 campaign for the 9th District Court of Appeals.
In 2011, as a 23-year-old, she ran for mayor of Akron but lost in the Republican primary.
Reed, 36, currently lives in Green. She holds an associate’s degree from Kent State University and is pursuing a Bachelor’s of Business Administration that she expects to complete this year.
