FAQ

Like other elected public officials, judges make decisions about fundamental issues that affect all of us. Judges decide very personal issues, such as child custody decisions, as well as those with much a broader impact. The decisions that judges make affect our lives, both directly and indirectly, often for many years to come. Having fair, qualified judges is critical to ensure that the rights of everyone are protected. 

The Cook County judicial system includes judges that sit on the Illinois Supreme Court, the Illinois Appellate Court, and trial courts, called the Circuit Court. Ballots may include judges from any of these courts.

On June 28, 2022, the primary election will occur in Illinois. Voters will be asked to make decisions about candidates from their political party (the Illinois primary is closed, so people must declare and receive only one major political party’s ballot) they wish to see run for that specific judicial vacancy in the partisan general election. Uncontested primary candidates advance automatically to the general election.

On November 8, 2022, the general election will occur in Illinois. The candidates that advanced from the primary election will run against a candidate from the other party. Sitting judges running for retention will be on the ballot during the general election. 

All judges are elected for a specific term; once that term expires, judges must run for retention to retain their positions. Judges seeking retention are required to file a declaration of candidacy with the Secretary of State at least six months before the general election. Retention elections are held in the specific circuit where the judge seeks retention. Retention elections are non-partisan; voters are given the names of existing judges with the sole question of whether they should remain on the bench, without party designation and opposing candidates. Retention candidates may seek endorsements from individuals such as Alderpeople and others, but they do not receive party endorsements.

A judge running for retention must receive 60% — three-fifths — of the vote to be retained.

Illinois has a circuit court system, meaning all courts are state courts and all judges are state employees. There are 23 judicial circuits in Illinois. Six are single county circuits: the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit (DuPage), the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Kane), the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Lake), the Twenty-Second Judicial District (McHenry), and the Twelfth Judicial District (Will). Circuit Court Judges are either elected in partisan elections (Circuit Court Judges) or by sitting judges (Associate Judges) or are appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court. Circuit Court Judges may run for retention at the end of their term. There are over 400 judges on the bench in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Appellate Court Judges and Supreme Court Justices are elected from five districts in Illinois. The Appellate Court for each district consists of one or more divisions that hear appeals. The First District meets in Chicago, consists of six divisions, and covers only Cook County; the remaining districts only have one division; the Second District meets in Elgin, the Third District meets in Ottawa, the Fourth District meets in Springfield, and the Fifth District meets in Mount Vernon. The Supreme Court meets in Springfield; three Supreme Court Justices are elected from the First District (Cook County), and one justice is elected from each of the other four districts. The 54 Appellate Judges and seven Supreme Court Justices in Illinois serve 10-year terms and may run for retention.

Judges in the Circuit Court of Cook County preside in one of six Municipal Districts: 

1. First Municipal District (Richard J. Daley Center, City of Chicago);
2. Second Municipal District is in Skokie (northern suburbs, Skokie);
3. Third Municipal District is in Rolling Meadows (northwest suburbs, Rolling Meadows);
4. Fourth Municipal District is in Maywood (western suburbs, Maywood);
5. Fifth Municipal District in Bridgeview (southwestern suburbs, Bridgeview); and 
6. Sixth Municipal District in Markham (south suburbs, Markham).

Regardless of district, judges hear cases in one of ten Divisions of the court: 

Regardless of the district, judges hear cases in one of ten Divisions of the court: 

1. Chancery Division cases include injunctions; class actions; mortgage foreclosures; name changes; declaratory judgments; contract matters; creditors’ rights; liens; construction of wills and trusts; trusteeships; receiverships; dissolutions of partnerships and corporations; statutory and administrative reviews; and vehicle impoundment.
2. Law Division cases include civil suits for recovery of monetary damages greater than $30,000 in Chicago and greater than $100,000 in the suburban municipal districts, such as: personal injury/wrongful death, motor vehicle injury, medical or legal malpractice, product and premises liability, intentional tort, construction injuries, commercial litigation, fraud, breach of contracts and warranties, employment security, property damage, and “miscellaneous remedies.”
3. County Division cases include adoption, the marriage of minors, annexation and de-annexation of land to a tax body, elections, inheritance taxes, mental health proceedings (and orders of protection filed in conjunction with a mental health proceeding), real estate taxes, and municipal organizations. 
4. Probate Division cases include the administration of wills and estates (contest of wills and testamentary instruments, claims against an estate, administration of estates of decedents, disabled persons, minors and wards, contracts to make a will, construction of wills), actions arising under the Illinois Power of Attorney Act, and any orders of protection filed with a probate proceeding.
5. Domestic Relations Division matters include cases to establish, modify, and enforce dissolutions of marriage and civil unions, legal separation, the invalidity of marriage or civil union, child support, child custody, parentage, and visitation, and civil orders of protection filed in conjunction with a domestic relations proceeding.
6. Domestic Violence (DV) Division cases include civil orders of protection and no-contact orders, criminal DV actions (misdemeanors, Class 4 felonies, preliminary hearings or indictments up to a Class 1, 2, or 3 felonies), aggravated stalking, and stalking no-contact orders.
7. Criminal Division judges hear felony criminal cases include armed robbery, burglary, physical and sexual assault, and murder allegations (except for those related to domestic violence or matters under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code), extradition, expungement, and habeas corpus. The First Municipal District’s specialty/problem-solving courts are in the Criminal Division.
8. Pretrial Division cases include all initial proceedings in criminal cases for the First Municipal District (as well as for suburban Municipal Districts on holidays and weekends), including: bail review hearings, felony cases assigned to a pretrial diversion or deferred prosecution program, preliminary examination hearings, extradition and intrastate (other Illinois counties) warrants, warrants for violation of probation or bond, and on non-business hours, warrants in civil cases and applications for search warrants. 
9. Juvenile Justice Division judges handle proceedings to determine if a child has violated a federal, state, or local law/ordinance, proceedings for minors “addicted to alcohol or drugs,” and cases of minors “requiring authoritative intervention,” such as runaways or “those beyond the control” of a parent or guardian.
10. Child Protection Division cases involve alleged child abuse or neglect, dependency, private guardianship, and the termination of parental rights. 

There are three ways to become a judge in Illinois: 

1. Judges may be elected at the trial court level in county-wide or subcircuit judicial races. Subcircuit judges are elected from a defined geographic area where they live, whereas county-wide judges are elected by voters throughout Cook County and may live anywhere in the county. Once elected, both sub-circuit and country-wide judges have the same powers and may be placed in any division of the Circuit Court system. These judges serve six-year terms and must be retained by voters to remain on the bench after their term is finished. During election years, voters make decisions about judicial vacancies during the March primary and about the retention of judges during the November general elections. About one-third of Cook County Judges are elected through the judicial subcircuit system. Judicial subcircuits were created in 1991 in an attempt to diversify the bench and provide more opportunity for people without traditional endorsements of the Democratic Party. Candidates must live in their subcircuit to run for judge and obtain 667 petition signatures to get on the ballot (compared to the 2,500 signatures it takes to enter countywide races). There is no difference in the responsibilities of a judge elected in the subcircuit or through the countywide race. Starting in 2024, the Cook County Judicial District will be divided into 20 subcircuits (an increase from the current 15) that must be redrawn based on Census data every 10 years.
2. The Illinois Supreme Court may also appoint a judge to the Circuit Court to fill vacancies. These judges are considered interim and must run for election in the next general election.
3. Associate Judges are “elected” by already-sitting judges in the county after an application process. These judges serve four-year terms and then must be retained by Circuit Court Judges to remain on the bench after their term is over.

People running for judge in Illinois run in partisan elections, so most receive the endorsement of either the Democratic or the Republican Party and receive money from that party to campaign. They may also raise funds or use their personal money for their campaigns. Judges who are up for retention run on a non-partisan basis and do not have the endorsement of either political party, so they must raise their own funds to campaign.

While judges may sometimes make unpopular or controversial decisions, it is important for voters to have the information necessary to elect judges they can trust to make impartial decisions based on fair consideration of the facts and law. If voters are informed, the judicial election process has the potential to improve the transparency and accessibility of our court system and the accountability of judges and other system actors.

VoteForJudges.org was created to provide nonpartisan judicial voter education to people electing judges in Cook County. To do so, VoteForJudges.org reports information on judicial candidates from local media outlets, such as the Injustice Watch and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, thirteen bar associations in and around Cook County (the Alliance of Bar Associations and the Chicago Bar Association), and the judicial endorsements of local media outlets, such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. 

Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts (previously known as Fund for Justice) launched VoteForJudges.org more than a decade ago in an effort to educate voters about judicial elections in Cook County. Chicago Appleseed believes all people should have equal access to justice and fair treatment under the law. Having fair, qualified judges is critical to ensuring that the rights of everyone are protected.

The Committee to Elect Qualified Judges is a non-partisan political action committee dedicated to informed judicial voting that sponsors the VoteForJudges.org website.

The Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Evaluations (“Alliance”) is a group of 12 bar associations that collaboratively evaluate judicial candidates in Cook County:

1. AABAR: Arab American Bar Association of Illinois (www.arabbar.org)
2. AABA: Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area (www.aabachicago.org)
3. BWLA: Black Women Lawyer’s Association of Greater Chicago (www.bwla.org)
4. CCL: Chicago Council of Lawyers (www.chicagocouncil.org)
5. CCBA: Cook County Bar Association (www.cookcountybar.org)
6. DSL: Decalogue Society of Lawyers (www.decaloguesociety.org)
7. HBA: Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois (www.hellenicbar.org)
8. HLAI: Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois (www.hlai.org)
9. ISBA: Illinois State Bar Association (www.isba.org)
10. LAGBAC: Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (www.lagbac.org)
11. PRBA: Puerto Rican Bar Association (www.prbalawil.org)
12. WBAI: Women’s Bar Association (www.wbaillinois.org)

The Alliance simplifies the vetting process because candidates need only submit one set of materials and sit for one set of interviews rather than having to submit separate materials and sit for separate interviews with each individual bar association. The Alliance receives information about candidates’ performances and recommends whether they are qualified to be, or remain, a judge. Although they receive substantially similar information, each bar association in the Alliance issues its own recommendation as to the candidates’ fitness to serve on the bench. These results are published on VoteForJudges.org.

While information about judges or potential judges is not always accessible to the public, there are over a dozen bar groups that interview Cook County judicial candidates and evaluate their experience and temperament. Information from these groups can be taken into the voting booth. The bar groups who participate in evaluating judicial candidates have reviewed some of each candidate’s legal work, talked to other lawyers, judges, and sometimes members of the public about the candidates, and interviewed each candidate.

This evaluative information, combined with media coverage or other public information, is the best chance voters have to be informed about judicial candidates.

You can print out the Alliance’s Summary of Qualification Ratings and/or the Ratings Grid, which will show the individual recommendations of each Alliance bar association. You can also get a sample ballot ahead of time, so I can see who is running in your subcircut. Sample ballots are available at cookcountyclerk.com or chicagoelections.com.

You are allowed to bring these, along with your phone, with you into the voting booth. 

Because bar groups don’t always agree on the fitness of the candidates, questions about ratings of individual candidates should be directed to the individual bar association.

For website-related questions and media inquiries, reach out to Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts’ Director of Communications, Stephanie Agnew (sagnew@chicagoappleseed.org).