Voting for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County: Your Guide for the 2024 Primary Election!

Access to Justice , , , , ,

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County (“Court Clerk”) has unique responsibilities that directly impact access to the courts; the Court Clerk is in a position to create or remove many barriers to justice. The Court Clerk answers to a number of constituencies: judges, attorneys, litigants, jurors, researchers, and the public.

In order to help these constituencies become better informed voters, Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts created this list of FAQs. We encourage you to learn about the candidates and their vision for the Office before casting your vote—and to share what you learn about the office, its importance, and the candidates with your friends, family, and community!

20240306_Clerk of the Court Voter GuideDownload

The Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County oversees the nation’s second largest unified court system.

The Clerk of Circuit Court’s Office acts as a critical administrative hub within the legal system. It is in charge of preserving court records and tracking and disbursing all funds connected to court cases. This is no small feat; the office manages approximately 24 million case files, of which 3.9 million are for active cases. The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s two overarching essential duties are: 

  1. Record Keeping | The Court Clerk has an obligation to “make, keep, and record all records of the court.”  An important part of record keeping is the deployment and management of electronic tools such as e-filing. The Circuit Court of Cook County is also under the statutory obligation to provide members of the public with access to court files. However, the judicial branch – and therefore the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office – is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Illinois, and consequently has greater discretion to refuse requests for data, policies, or other information that resides outside of individual case files. The Court Clerk’s Office must work with and for the court and its officers to serve both the court and the public. 
  2. Financial Management | The Clerk of the Circuit Court manages income of approximately $80 million in various court fees, fines, and costs, which requires a 21st century system of accounting and accountability for those funds. The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office is also responsible for collecting and disbursing filing fees for all branches and divisions of the Circuit Court of Cook County. 

Any errors, delays, or inefficiencies in these responsibilities can significantly impact litigants’ access to legal proceedings and can even affect the outcomes of their cases.

If the Court Clerk delays preparing a record on appeal while an innocent person lingers in prison, erroneously reveals conviction records that are supposed to be sealed or expunged, or fails to provide domestic violence survivors with copies of their orders of protection, individuals’ lives and livelihoods can be drastically affected. Most recently, in early 2024, the Court Clerk’s Office “accidentally exposed online the names of at least 5,000 children charged with crimes” after adding a new section to the Circuit Court’s online case search system, which allowed members of the public to look up records. Although the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office “say[s] they’re confident in security measures that would have prevented third-party websites from scraping and publishing the data en masse,” officials do not know how many outside users accessed this information (which is mandated by state law to be kept secret) while it was available for nearly two weeks. 

The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office is crucial to the effective functioning of the legal system—particularly because the responsibilities granted to the office impact the community at large.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County retains a position that directly impacts constituents’ access to justice. It is important to elect a candidate who is cognizant of the office’s persisting management, technological, and transparency issues and is focused on developing a solution to these perpetual problems. A candidate must understand that their position’s purpose is not only to serve the courts, but the public too.

Our guide includes FAQs to help voters familiarize themselves with the functions and responsibilities of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, as well as addresses several questions which voters should consider before their make their decision, including…

  1. Does this candidate intend to serve both the court and the public?
  2. Does the candidate have relevant professional experience?
  3. Has this candidate publicly committed to improve the e-file, case management, and other technology systems of the office?
  4. Does this candidate demonstrate a dedication to transparency?
  5. Is the candidate committed to eliminating patronage and other forms of corruption?
To learn more about the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County and the candidates running in 2024, visit: