For Illinois Voters - A Public Service Announcement
Voting for Judges
If you're like me, you've probably just skipped the whole judges section at the bottom of your ballot in most elections. I know there are unqualified judges that should be removed from the bench, but I didn't feel I knew enough about them, and I didn't feel I had enough time to research them to make an informed decision.
For Illinois voters, there's an easy, non-partisan solution. VoteforJudges.org collects the opinions and recommendations of 10 city and state bar associations regarding all of the judges running for election. You can access the info by an easy to read grid.
In addition, the site also includes a brief statement of who each judge is and why the Cook County Bar Association has scored each judge the way it has.
With less than 30 minutes of evaluation, I was able to process the information, read more about questionable judges, and make reasonably-informed decisions about all 83 judges that will appear on my ballot. (When all 10 organizations rated a judge unfavorably, I'm comfortably convinced that judge should be removed from the bench.)
As a result of this research, there are 12 judges I'll be voting against.
Voting for judges does matter- only we can remove a bad judge from the bench.
To get a copy of your ballot to see which judges are up for election in your district, go here:
http://www.chicagoelections.com/voterinfo.php
You can get both the grid summary and the CCBA's evaluation statements at:
http://www.voteforjudges.org/evaluations.html
We now return you to your regular programming.
-Tina