Illinois Campaign for Political Reform in process of reforming its Voter's Guide

There are still a lot of corrections to be made to the Cook County section of the Illinois Voter's Guide, acknowledged Margo Alpert, an attorney with the non-partisan Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, but corrections will be made soon.

In a telephone interview Friday morning, Ms. Alpert said she's in charge of preparing the Voter's Guide for the ICPR, but she has to rely on IT professionals to update the site.

Alpert, a Wisconsin native and an attorney since 2004, said this is only the second election cycle in which she's been involved in the preparation of the Voter's Guide, but ICPR has had a Voter's Guide available on line since 2000. One reason the ICPR publishes the guide, Alpert said, is because a survey conducted by her organization revealed that 87% of the people polled wanted more information about the judges for whom they vote.

As the Judicial Project Manager for the ICPR, Alpert is concerned with trying to maintain and restore confidence in the judiciary. Voter education projects, like the Voter's Guide, are only one way that the ICPR tries to accomplish this goal. The ICPR is also exploring the public financing of judicial elections, revisions to the partisan slating process, and non-partisan elections. The ICPR website notes that it works on these projects with several organizations, including the American Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.