Saturday, October 08, 2016

Alliance 'grids' for contested Cook County judicial elections

There aren't many, but there are some, all on the northern edge of Cook County, one in the northwest suburban 13th Subcircuit, and four in the north suburban 12th Subcircuit.

In all other case where vacancies are being filled, with one possible exception which I'll come to in a moment (hey, we're lawyers, there's almost always at least a possible exception), the outcomes were determined in the primary: No Republicans ran for any countywide vacancy. No Republicans ran for any subcircuit vacancies either, except these in 12 and 13.

Without further preface, then, the Alliance grids in contested judicial elections (depending on the device on which you're viewing this, clicking on the image will enlarge the image or enhance its focus):



OK, so I promised a possible exception.

In the 1st Subcircuit, in the race to fill the Hopkins vacancy, there is a controversial Democratic nominee, Rhonda Crawford (if you don't already know about the controversy, this post may provide a good starting point) and a write-in candidate who is also a sitting judge (sitting by appointment in the 1st Subcircuit Brim vacancy, a vacancy she was unable to hold during the primary). So the Alliance has released a 'grid' here too:


In contested elections, voters will see both names on the ballot for each contested race. In this case, however, 1st Subcircuit voters will only see Ms. Crawford's name; they would have to write in Judge Ahmad in order for that vote to count.

And for those who might not have been looking at this race previously, Ms. Crawford's unanimous 'not recommended' ratings do not stem from any alleged impersonation of a judge this past summer; rather, they relate to her non-participation in the Alliance screening process prior to the March Primary.

The Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening is comprised of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area (AABA), Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago (BWLA), Chicago Council of Lawyers (CCL), Cook County Bar Association (CCBA), Decalogue Society of Lawyers (DSL), Hellenic Bar Association (HBA), Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois (HLAI), Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago (LAGBAC), Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois (PRBA), and Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI) working collaboratively to improve the process of screening judicial candidates in Cook County, Illinois.

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