Primary Election Judicial Evaluations for 2024 are Live!
Among the Chicago Council of Lawyers’ most vital projects are our state judicial evaluations. This crucial public service to help the citizens of Illinois vote for qualified judges. The quality of our judiciary is a critical part of our democracy, and informed voting for judges is necessary if we are to have good judges who are independent.
The next judicial election in Cook County is on March 19, 2024, during the Illinois primary election. Voters will be asked to make decisions about candidates from their political party they wish to see run for that specific judicial vacancy in the partisan general election. Uncontested primary candidates advance automatically to the general election.
Click here for the Council’s evaluation report of candidates running in the 2024 primary election (you can also find a ballot summary here).
The Chicago Council of Lawyers is also part of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Evaluations (“Alliance”), which is a group of 13 bar associations that collaboratively evaluate judicial candidates in Cook County. 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. You can find the Alliance’s primary evaluation on VoteForJudges.org.
The Illinois general election is November 5, 2024. During the general election, successful primary candidates will run for open judicial seats. Sitting judges running for retention will also be on the ballot. The Council will be seeking information from the public to inform our retention election evaluations. Keep an eye out for our confidential survey!
For more information on the Council’s judicial evaluation process, visit ChicagoCouncil.org/State-Judicial-Evaluations.