ICPR POSTS JUDICIAL CANDIDATE INFORMATION TO EASY-TO-USE WEBSITE

[Chicago] A new online voters’ guide now provides easy access to information about judicial candidates on the March primary ballot and is delivering the sort of quality information Illinois voters want and need to make informed choices when they cast a ballot in judicial contests.

Biographical information, questionnaire answers, as well as bar association evaluations and endorsements can be found at www.illinoisvotersguide.org, a web site of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR).

“Typically, judicial campaigns are waged out of sight of most voters,” said Cynthia Canary, Director of ICPR. “Many voters don’t even know there are judicial elections until they walk into the polling place. By that time, of course, it’s too late for voter education about the candidates and the issues.

“The 2006 Illinois Voters’ Guide is a good place for voters to begin to learn about judicial candidates,” Canary said. “It includes a primer on the state’s court system, a map to help voters identify which candidates will be on their ballot, and several links to web sites where voters can find more information about the candidates, various bar associations, Illinois courts and elections. Most importantly, it contains the information most relevant to voters when they think about what sort of person they want to see on the bench.”

This is the third online voters’ guide created by ICPR and Justice at Stake. ICPR is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest group that conducts research and advocates reforms to promote public participation in government; address the role of money in politics; and encourage integrity, accountability and transparency in government. Justice at Stake is a non-partisan national campaign to keep courts fair and impartial by educating the public and working for reforms.

The ICPR homepage (www.ilcampaign.org) also contains other recent updates for voters:

• Find out which candidates did – and did not – sign the Code of Fair Campaign Practices. Signing of the code, which is contained in state statutes, is voluntary. Candidates signing the code pledge not to engage in character defamation, whispering campaigns or scurrilous attacks on candidates and their families and to limit attacks on opponents to legitimate challenges of the opponent’s record.

• See where the candidates for governor stand on key election and government reforms issues.

# # #