Adams leading Wang in the race for DuPage circuit court clerk

Democratic incumbent Candice Adams was leading comfortably late Tuesday in the race for DuPage County circuit court clerk against Republican Jeremy “Jaye” Wang.

As of 9:54 p.m. Tuesday, unofficial vote totals showed Adams with 229,904 votes and Wang with 200,807 votes.

Among its duties, the circuit court clerk’s office is responsible for maintaining court records, processing payments for court fines and fees and providing copies of court cases and information about expungements.

During her first term, Adams, of Lisle, said she implemented various cost-saving measures, including hiring employees from a private company that was doing imaging work for the clerk’s office.

The clerk’s office handles roughly 1.6 million documents a year, Adams said. By bringing the work in-house, the county will save about $700,000 a year, she said.

Adams, who is an attorney, also started hosting amnesty weeks, allowing individuals with outstanding fees to pay off their fines without additional collection charges. Since its inception two years ago, the annual amnesty week has brought in about $100,000 in previously overdue court fees, she said.

She also started a court date reminder text messaging system, increased the starting wage for court clerks and implemented the first parental leave policy for any county department during her tenure.

Adams said she would like to focus her second term on helping people better understand the court system and how it works. She suggested a program that would allow people to ask questions through a Zoom session. She said she also would continue to work to modernize court forms and make them easier for people to understand.

Wang, of Westmont, currently serves on the DuPage Regional Board of Education as acting president and is vice president of the Downers Grove Sanitary District. Wang also is an attorney.

A child of immigrants, Wang said he was running to honor his family’s devotion to public service.

He said he would work with various stakeholders such as the sheriff, state’s attorney, public defender and probation department to identify strategies to improve efficiency. He also said he would launch a digital self-help program to assist pro se litigants. Though the clerk’s office cannot provide legal advice, Wang said the program could help provide information about available resources.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241105/local-politics/adams-leading-wang-in-the-race-for-dupage-circuit-court-clerk/