Welcome, voters! If you are interested in voting for judicial candidates in Cook County, please take a Democratic primary ballot

That is not a partisan request.

It is a statement of reality.

There are no Republicans running for countywide judicial office in Cook County. Not for the Supreme Court, not for the Appellate Court, not for any countywide vacancy. Out of all the subcircuit vacancies in Cook County, there are only two in which Republicans have filed and there is a primary contest in only one race.

If you, the voter, wants to have any say in who serves as a judge in this county, you must vote in the Democratic Primary on St. Patrick's Day. Because the winners of those contests will almost certainly be sworn in for full terms on the first Monday in December.

I realize that some people shy away from voting in primaries because they don't want anyone to know whether they are a Republican or a Democrat. Or maybe some people think they aren't Democrats, so they don't want to vote in a Democratic Primary.

If you are one of these, I have news for you: You don't need to "be" a Democrat, whatever that means, to vote in the Democratic Primary.

You don't even have to "be" a Democrat to be the front-runner for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Photo credit: Scott Eisen/ Getty Images

Just ask Bernie Sanders.

FWIW readers already know this, of course. But think of your friends and relations who don't. Spread the word: If you want to vote for judge in Cook County, you must vote in the primary election and you must take a Democratic ballot.

Now, then, switching topics slightly -- but not entirely -- I have noticed that some would-be FWIW commenters have become downright vaporish about a person who has consorted with known Republicans, who has actually claimed to "be" a Republican (whatever that means), but who has filed to run for judge as a Democrat in the 10th Subcircuit.

Invasion! Fraud! Subterfuge!

Oh, please.

All this means is that the person in question wants to be a judge. Because there is no way for a resident of the 10th Subcircuit to become a judge unless one runs in the Democratic Primary.

At some point in the future it may be different, but right now -- in this election cycle -- in Cook County -- Republicans are irrelevant. To have any say in the affairs of our commonwealth one must participate in, not only the democratic process (small d), but also the Democratic Party (capitals intended).

With all the nervous upset about John Garrido, I'm almost afraid to mention that there is another person running in the 13th Subcircuit, as a Democrat, who actually ran for judge in the 13th Subcircuit in the 2018 primary as a Republican.

I'll pause now, whilst some of our readers fan themselves and mop their brows.

Feeling better?

Look, the explanation here is equally simple. Until 2018 no Democratic candidate had ever been elected judge in the 13th Subcircuit. In 2018 only Democrats were elected to the bench in that far northwest suburban enclave. The person in question wants to be a judge. She has determined that, at least for this election cycle, even in the northwest suburbs, the only place to go in order to achieve that ambition is the Democratic Primary.

In a one-party state (and, for now, Cook County certainly appears to qualify) everyone who wants to participate in politics must be a Party member.

We're telling voters that they have to take a Democratic ballot in order to have a say in who serves on the Cook County bench. Why are any of us surprised, then, when persons who want to serve on the bench, choose to run in the Democratic Primary?