Illinois Attorneys Surveyed About Judicial Candidates
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- Those running for judge may not have campaign ads or mass mailers to help voters learn about their qualifications, but they do have a recently released survey.
As WBBM Newsradio's Alex Degman reports, the Illinois State Bar Association sends a judicial survey to thousands of attorneys statewide in hopes they will answer questions about judges they have appeared before in court, and fellow attorneys who are running for judge for the first time.
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They are asked to answer questions about a candidate's temperament, legal ability, qualifications and other factors.
Bar Association president John Locallo says the judiciary affects everyone.
"Judicial decisions are being made daily that affect our lives," Locallo said. "They're creating a body of case law in doing that, and so you want to make sure that as a people we're represented properly and fairly."
About 30 percent of those sent surveys responded for the 2012 primary. The Bar Association says "the minimum number of responses to consider a poll valid is 30 in polls of less than 1,000 lawyers; 60 for polls of between 1,000-1,999; 90 for polls of between 2,000-2,999; and 120 for polls of more than 3,000 lawyers."
