Eye On Illinois: Get to know judicial candidates at teen’s informative, nonpartisan website

In high school, I developed the Scott T. Holland Too Much Free Time Seal of Approval, an entirely sarcastic award meant to draw attention to my friends who accomplished something truly useless, like playing their trumpet part backward or translating a Shakespeare sonnet into Klingon.

(It isn’t lost on me that devising the concept – and having labels printed! – was an even bigger waste of time… unless it can be considered a training exercise in social commentary.)

In contrast, this week I learned about a high schooler who sincerely put free time to excellent use: Sarah Boettcher is a junior at Naperville North High School. She is responsible for KnowYourStateJudges.org, a new website that helps voters outside of Cook County cast informed ballots in judicial elections.

The site is useful even for nonvoters, in that it explains the four different types of judges in Illinois and has maps showing every possible judicial district, circuit and subcircuit with links to all the relevant websites. There are results from the March primary (just percentages, notary vote totals) and for the November ballot a list of candidates and results of the Illinois State Bar Association member poll for each person (recommended, insufficient responses or not recommended).

That candidate list – color-coded based on partisan affiliation – links to biographies for each candidate. Those pages list experience, education, ratings, recommendations, campaign finance data and endorsements that come from “organizations that have a defined process for endorsing all types of judicial candidates” rather than individuals, but there also is a link to candidates’ campaign websites to access that type of information.

There is a separate page for circuit judges standing for retention votes. That list offers less information, but if you’ve already visited the page explaining the types of judges you know those are noncompetitive, nonpartisan races and candidates must clear 60% to keep their spots on the bench for another six years.

“Voters elect or approve judges on very little information compared to other elected officials,” Boettcher wrote on the site’s landing page, smartly pointing out the importance of issues like criminal sentencing, family court and liability on top of topics that tend to grab headlines like civil rights or constitutional freedoms.

Click and scroll for yourself, but my take is the website meets Boettcher’s stated goal of being a nonpartisan information hub, and she’s completely correct it fills a gap in an otherwise saturated campaign climate. It’s not the prettiest website, but it’s pretty an impressive output from someone learning everything all at once – certainly not the kind of useful outlet I found for idle teenage moments.

Here’s hoping this youngster remains committed and motivated. The need for what she provides will only increase with time.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.