Five of the eight candidates slated by the Cook County Democratic Party in contested countywide won the lottery conducted yesterday afternoon by the Illinois State Board of Elections for the coveted top ballot position.
The outcome of ballot challenges may change things, of course, but for the moment at least, slated candidate Jonathan Clark Green will be third on the ballot in a field of five candidates for the countywide Clay vacancy. Mary A. Lopez won the top spot in the lottery for this race, but she faces a ballot challenge. Still, even if Lopez is knocked off the ballot, Kathaleen Theresa Lanahan would succeed to the top spot in this race; she finished second in yesterday's drawing.
Newly installed Judge Peter Michael Gonzalez, the Democratic Party's slated candidate, will stand second on the ballot for the countywide McGinnis vacancy, pending the outcome of the challenge to the candidacy of lottery winner Brian Terrance Sexton.
There was a four-way drawing for the countywide Flanagan vacancy; every candidate filing in this race was eligible for the ballot lottery. Amanda Moira Pillsbury won the drawing. Judge Preston Jones, Jr. finished second. Pillsbury, however, also faces a petition challenge.
In the subcircuits, in races which so far involve three or more candidates, several appointed judges emerged victorious in the ballot lottery: Judges Debra A. Seaton (2nd Subcircuit - Willis vacancy), Patrick Thomas Stanton (3rd Subcircuit - Delehanty vacancy), David R. Navarro (4th Subcircuit - Davy vacancy), John Andrew O'Meara (4th Subcircuit - Riley vacancy), Marian E. Perkins (5th Subcircuit - Jones vacancy), Robert Harris (5th Subcircuit - Washington II vacancy), and Stephanie Saltouros (10th Subcircuit - O'Neill Burke vacancy).
Judge Travis Richardson (2nd Subcircuit - Turner vacancy) will have the top spot in his three-way race, but neither of the candidates filing to oppose him were eligible for the ballot lottery.
On the other hand, there were several appointed judges who did not snag the top spot in yesterday's ballot lottery. Among these were Judge H. Yvonne Coleman (5th Subcircuit - Banks vacancy), Kent Delgado (6th Subcircuit - Chevere vacancy), Charles "Charlie" Beach (6th Subcircuit - Cooke vacancy), Michael A. Forti (8th Subcircuit - Liu vacancy), and Myron "Mike" Mackoff (8th Subcircuit - Pethers vacancy).
Judge Gerald V. Cleary finished third in the four-way drawing for the top spot in the race for the Suriano vacancy in the 10th Subcircuit. The Democratic Party's slated candidate in that race, Colleen Reardon Daly, finished first. There are five candidates presently in that race.
Four candidates were also eligible for the ballot lottery in the race for the Fabri vacancy in the 8th Subcircuit. This is presently the most crowded judicial race; there are six candidates in all. Judge Robin Denise Shoffner finished fourth in the lottery for the top spot. Former Judge James "Jamie" Shapiro won that lottery; current Judge Elizabeth Anne Karkula came in second.
Judge Stephanie Miller drew the second position in her two-person race for the Lopez-Cepero vacancy in the 6th Subcircuit.
Martin D. Reggi won the lottery for the last spot on the ballot in the 4th Subcircuit Riley vacancy. Bonnie McGrath won the lottery for the last spot on the ballot in the crowded field for the Fabri vacancy in the 8th Subcircuit. Many candidates and their advisers believe the last ballot position to be almost as advantageous as the top spot, but election expert Albert J. Klumpp, Ph.D., has left comments on this blog saying the data he's examined refutes that notion.
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I'd love to know where this idea ever got started about the last position being advantageous. Last-position candidates have the fewest wins in four-candidate judicial primaries in Cook County (15 of 81 since 1980), and the last position has never once produced a winner in a six-candidate contest (0 of 39 since 1980). In fact, for every size contest the last position has produced the fewest wins of all of the positions. And yet dozens of candidates file late every cycle to actively try to get the last position. Weird.
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