CBA Record November-December 2025

Figure 1. Judicial Candidates per Vacancy, Cook County 1974–2024 9

Second, elections in the rest of Illinois have not seen anywhere near the same steep decline in competitiveness that Cook County has seen. Table 2 reports the candidate numbers in the other 101 Illinois counties since 1974. While the most recent years show slightly lower numbers relative to previous decades, the difference is nothing like the dramatic decline in Cook County. Third, data from other large jurisdic tions around the country reveals some thing unexpected and startling: the lack-of-competition problem seems to be widespread. For example: l In Los Angeles, where incumbent judges stand for reelection and can be chal lenged, fewer than two incumbents on average are challenged in each election cycle out of more than 150. l In Philadelphia (which, like Illinois, has competitive contests only for vacancies and not for incumbents), CPV over the past 10 cycles has been only 2.6. l In Houston, CPV levels actually have risen a bit in recent cycles, but their average since 2010 is only 2.4. l And in New York City, party organiza tions are so influential over the election process that the CPV in the past 10 cycles has never exceeded 1.7, and for the most recent three cycles has been 1.4, 1.2, and 1.2. The fact that these figures are so uni formly and consistently low suggests that at least some of what we see in Cook County is not unique here but is part of a larger, more general problem. Causes: Voices of Experience All these numbers show the seriousness of the problem, but they reveal little about its causes or solutions. Accordingly, I fol lowed up on the numbers by reaching out to several dozen people—elective and appointive candidates, both successful and unsuccessful, and others such as cam paign consultants and election lawyers— to assemble a reasonably representative set of voices to ask about why the numbers are so low. The issue most mentioned was money: not just the increasing cost of conducting a

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0 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 Albert J. Klumm, PHD Figure 1 is even more remarkable because in the 1990s more vacancies existed than usual due to implementation of the new subcircuit system and the creation of many new vacancies for the system. Even with those elevated numbers of vacancies, CPV levels peaked. But since then they have fallen to levels not seen since the Democratic machine years, when the electorate dutifully ratified the party’s choices. The Larger Context Three important points need to be made using other relevant data sets. First, applica tions for appointed associate judgeships show that there is no shortage of lawyers in Cook County who would like to become a judge, despite what the election numbers indicate. Table 1 reports applications for major rounds of associate judge selections in Cook County since 2001. While the numbers have been highly variable from one year to the next, and while there does seem to be a slight decrease in more recent years, all the

numbers are very high, in stark contrast to the election numbers. Table 1. Cook County Associate Judge Applicants, 2001–2024

Years

Vacancies

Candidates

CPV 17.1 16.6 32.6 17.0 13.2

2001-05 2006-10 2011-15 2016-20 2021-24

50 50 33 45 57

857 832

1077

767 751

Table 2. Elective Candidates per Vacancy, Illinois w/o Cook County, 1974–2024

Years 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s

Candidates

Vacancies

CPV

251 355 423 398 388 256

117 160 182 167 190 132

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.0 1.9

CBA RECORD 23