Selecting Judges in Illinois:
ISBA Judicial Candidate Ratings
The Illinois Constitution places the responsibility for selecting most judges in the hands of the voters. To help you meet this responsibility, the Illinois State Bar Association evaluates some candidates and provides a rating; ISBA also conducts a poll of attorneys on candidates outside Cook County. Check ratings or poll results for candidates in your county.

Polls and Evaluations: What's the Difference?
The ratings of judges that appear under the link above were arrived at by two methods.

Polling
ISBA advisory polls are conducted by mail and sent to all ISBA members in the circuit or district from which a candidate seeks election. Licensed attorneys who are not members of ISBA may request a ballot. Candidates receiving 65 percent or more "yes" responses to the question "does this candidate meet the requirements for office?" are rated "recommended;" candidates receiving less than 65 percent are rated "not recommended." Opinions expressed in the poll are of those lawyers who chose to respond and not of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Evaluations
Evaluations are based on a detailed questionnaire submitted by the candidates, background investigations, and an in-person interview before the judicial evaluations committee. After considering all available information, the committee voted a rating for each candidate.These ratings do represent the opinion of the ISBA.

Cook County/Downstate
Recommendations for Cook County candidates are the product of evaluations only; recommendations for candidates in other counties are based on polling except where indicated.

Vacancies and Retention: What's the Difference?
There are two types of judicial elections in Illinois. Some candidates run for vacant seats, while others run in uncontested retention elections. What's the difference? Vacancy Elections
Candidates for vacancies on the Supreme Court, Appellate Court, and Circuit Court must stand for election. (Only associate judges are not subject to popular election; they are selected and retained by the circuit judges.) Once elected, circuit judges serve a 6-year term and appellate and supreme court justices serve 10-year terms.

Retention Elections
Once elected to the bench, a judge does not face a contested election to stay in the same office. At the end of his or her term, the judge may seek retention in office by placing his or her name on the ballot. Voters are asked to answer "yes" or "no" to the question of whether the judge should remain in office. Judges must receive 60 percent "yes" votes in order to continue in office.

Voters' Responsibility
The quality of our court system relies in large part on the selection of qualified candidates to serve as judge. The Illinois State Bar Association evaluates candidates for judge to give voters information about how the candidates are viewed by their peers in the legal profession. You can inform yourself about judicial candidates by reviewing bar evaluations, media endorsements, and other information about the candidates. Our goal is to help you make informed choices when you enter the voting booth.