voter engagement Archives - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

How to vote for judges this 2026 Primary Election

VoteForJudges.org is your resource for researching judges. We are pleased to announce that VoteForJudges.org is ready and available as a resource for Cook County voters in the 2026 primary election. Early voting is already underway, and with a day left for the primary election, we expect that thi...

Voting for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County: Your Guide for the 2024 Primary Election!

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County (“Court Clerk”) has unique responsibilities that directly impact access to the courts; the Court Clerk is in a position to create or remove many barriers to justice. The Court Clerk answers to a number of constituencies: judges, attorneys, litigants, jur...

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 and...

Merit-Based Judicial Retention in Illinois: A Viable Way to Improve the Quality of the State’s Judiciary

Merit-Based Judicial Retention in Illinois: A Viable Way to Improve the Quality of the State's Judiciary In 2014, Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) proposed to amend the Illinois constitution as a means to improve the way Illinois retains its judges. Her bill (HJRCA0010) suggested...

State Farm, Judicial Elections, Integrity and Recusal

In 2011, Chicago Appleseed, with assistance from pro bono attorneys at DLA Piper filed an amicus brief in the Illinois Supreme Court case, Avery v. State Farm. We took no position on the merits of the case, which involved a consumer dispute over replacement parts for insured cars damaged in crashes,...

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