Yes, election season is once again upon us. As is the case in most election cycles in our Illinois counties, part of the election process includes judicial candidates standing for nomination. The formal election of judges, including for seat retention, is part of the general election in November. In cases where only one party puts up a candidate or candidates, the winner of the primary is de facto the winner of the formal November election ahead of time.
Of course, the primary election also includes many other offices and candidates for those offices. This post is to assist in a part of the process that is often mysterious or even completely opaque to voters.
My purpose is to inform and to help you to inform yourself. I hope to keep lack of information from causing voters who are unfamiliar with the judicial candidates to decide not to vote for judges at all or to pick at random. Note that I do not subscribe to voting for party favorites or slates. Rather, I feel you should know what the legal profession itself says about judicial candidates and should be able to avoid voting for unqualified or non-recommended people.
The Bar Associations
Various bar associations evaluate judicial candidates. One aggregation of bar associations, the Alliance of Bar Associations, pulls together the evaluations made by each of its members and publishes its results in a single table for each cycle. The Alliance of Bar Associations is comprised of thirteen bar associations. 1 Here is their stated process:
“Judicial candidates are rated by the Alliance members based on detailed information supplied by candidates, a background check by trained lawyers/investigators, and interviews of each candidate. Ratings reflect the Alliance’s opinion of whether candidates have the necessary qualifications for judicial service or ascension to a higher office and are not a reflection of the candidates’ abilities as lawyers or judges.”
One significant bar association is not included in the Alliance of Bar Associations: Chicago Bar Association (“CBA”). CBA issues its own evaluations. I note their evaluations along with the Alliance ratings..
What I Do and Don’t Do and What You Do
In this mailing, I single out the candidates who are rated as “Not Qualified” or “Not Recommended” by one or more of the involved Alliance bar associations or by the CBA. A “No” from a single association might be meaningful to the interest group of that association.
I don’t otherwise evaluate or recommend candidates in competitive races. I don’t personally know any of the candidates.
I leave it up to you to look in detail at the ratings on association websites if you have questions about how to choose between qualified or recommended contestants.
You will vote for “countywide” candidates no matter where you live in Cook County, The Subcircuit candidates you vote for are determined by where you live. Please acquire a sample ballot for your Suburban Cook County voting area at https://ballotpedia.org/Cook_County_Sample_Ballot_(Illinois).
For the City of Chicago, go to the Chicago Board of Elections website at https://chicagoelections.gov/voting/your-voter-information.
The Particulars
The rating abbreviations used by the associations are:
HQ Highly Qualified
WQ Well Qualified
Q Qualified
NQ Not Qualified
HR Highly RecommendedRRecommended
NR Not Recommended
However, for purposes of this mailing, I note only the negative evaluations or opposing ones, as you will see.
To view the Alliance of Bar Associations evaluations in detail, go to https://www.isba.org/judicial-elections/reports/alliance
To view the Chicago Bar Association evaluations in detail, go to https://www.chicagobar.org/CBA/JEC/Judicial_Voters_Guide.aspx
For the First District Appellate Court, Judith C. Rice is the single candidate to fill the Hoffman Vacancy in the First District. She is rated positively by all 13 Alliance associations and by the CBA.
All candidates in the Countywide judicial elections have positive ratings in the Alliance table and in the CBA evaluations.
Here are the Subcircuit candidates who have received negative evaluations by one or more bar associations.
Circuit Courts
1st Subcircuit
Balanoff Vacancy: Natalie L Howse – Unanimous “NR,” Alliance; “NR” CBA
Walker Vacancy: All “NR,” Alliance; only Tiffany Brooks is “NR,” CBA
3rd Subcircuit
Sherlock Vacancy: Martin Douglas Reggi – 1 “NR” Alliance; 1 “NQ”; “NR” CBA
Rachel Marello – 1 “NR”, 3 blanks Alliance; “NR” CBA
5th Subcircuit
Ross Vacancy: Stephanie S. Kelly – All “R” or “Q”, Alliance; “NR” CBA
8th Subcircuit
Gamrath Vacancy: Kathleen Cunniff Ori – 1 ‘NR”, 1 blank, Alliance; “Q” CBA
Garson Fischer: 1 “NR”, Alliance; “Q” CBA
Mivka Vacancy: Dan Balanoff – 9 “NR”/”NQ”; 1 blank, Alliance; “NR” CBA
Kathleen Carole Morrison – 1 “NQ”, Alliance; “Q” CBA
13th Subcircuit
Kelley, Martin Vacancy: Brittany Michelle Petersen – 6 “NR”/”NQ”, Alliance; 2 blanks; “Q” CBA
16th Subcircuit
Mendoza Vacancy: Jessica Karina Velez – 6 “NR”/”NQ”, Alliance; 1 blank; “NR” CBA
17th Subcircuit
Brooks Vacancy: Meridith Hammer – 10 “NR”/”NQ,” Alliance; “NR” CBA
Natalia Moore – All “NR,” Alliance; “NR” CBA
Carroll Vacancy: Bianca B. Brown: 1 “NR,” Alliance; “Q” CBA
Amari Dawson – All “NR,” Alliance; “NR” CBA
Andre Thapedi – All “NR,” Alliance; “NR” CBA
19th Subcircuit
Kane Vacancy: John Harkins – All “NR,” Alliance; “NR” CBA
Monica Somerville – 1 “NQ” Alliance
Fairman Vacancy: Sara McGann – 1 “NQ,” Alliance; Q” CBA
UPDATE WITH LINKS TO IMPORTANT INFORMATION
A day after this blog posting appeared, two sites provided good information for voting.
Injustice Watch posted their excellent “Guide to the 2026 Cook County judicial primary elections .” It is here:
https://2026primary.injusticewatch.org/
To save you the trouble of figuring out which judge candidates you will actually vote for, Injustice Watch has you enter your address to determine your subcircuit and the judges running in that subcircuit. The site provides icons indicating various types of experience for each candidate, any negatives ratings, and party affiliation. You can click on any candidate’s name and get details about experience and controversies, if any.
BallotPedia provides the best sample ballot information available. You have a couple of steps to get to the good stuff, but its easy to do. It is here:
https://ballotpedia.org/Sample_Ballot_Lookup
You will get, instead of a true “sample ballot,” a series of dropdowns for each office for which you will cast a vote.
NOTES
1The Alliance’s members are:
AABAR – Arab American Bar Association
AABA – Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area
BMLA – Black Men Lawyers’ Association
BWLA – Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago
CCL – Chicago Council of Lawyers
CCBA – Cook County Bar Association
DSL – Decalogue Society of Lawyers
HBA – Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois
HLAI – Hispanic Lawyers Association of IllinoisI
ISBA – Illinois State Bar Association
LAGBAC – Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association
PRBA – Puerto Rican Bar Association
WBAI – Women’s Bar Association of Illinois