Judicial Campaigns, Elections, and Selection Archives - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Primary Election Results: Voter Turnout was Low, but Judicial Races Weren’t Neglected

Preliminary results are in from the 2022 primary election in Illinois, which included a number of judicial races. Primary turn-out was disappointing – the “second-lowest for a modern-era primary” – with only 1-in-5 Chicago voters participating and suburban Cook County showing a similar turn-out rate...

Judicial Recusal & Confidence in Our Courts

This fall, the issue of judicial recusal has returned to the forefront in Illinois, with the indictments against Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke’s husband, Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. In particular, WBEZ reported at least 10 instances in which Justice Burke decided cases involving parties who, at th...

Voters Do Not Retain Cook County Judge

For the first time in nearly 30 years, Cook County voters have voted against the retention of a sitting Circuit Court judge. Judge Matthew Coghlan, who sat in the Criminal Courts, received less than the 60% “yes” vote necessary to retain his seat. The Illinois Supreme Court will appoint a replacemen...

Associate Judge Process Has Potential but Diversity Still not Optimal

Improving diversity on the bench requires critical assessment of how judges are elected and selected; citizen oversight and participation is necessary. We believe the associate judge process this year is a reminder toward vigilance in improving representation on the bench, but we do not believe it i...

Thoughts on the Judicial Primary

We’re just past the March 2018 primary. Before the election, Vote for Judges received about 55,000 unique visitors with about 100,000 viewed/downloaded pages. The evaluations collected by Vote for Judges were aggregated through a number of ballot reference websites, like Ballot Ready. It’s great to...

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