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64-562: For its first 35 years, the present Courthouse Place building housed the Cook County Criminal Courts and was the site of many legendary trials, including Adolph Luetgert , Leopold and Loeb , the Black Sox Scandal , and the jazz age trials that formed the basis of the play and musical Chicago . The 1928 play The Front Page was written by newspaper reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur based on

128-646: A business court , though other kinds of business cases, for example dissolutions of partnerships and corporations, are subject to Chancery Division jurisdiction in Cook County. The Commercial Calendars represent one of the oldest specialized business court programs in the United States, created by order of the Court's President Judge in 1992, and became operational in 1993. In 1993, Judge Martin Ashman became

192-424: A better alternative, or to hide pandering to a special interest) or to create or prevent fodder for political campaigns. Public methods of citizen voting have included: Private methods of citizen voting have included: In ancient Greece , secret ballots were used in several situations like ostracism and also to remain hidden from people seeking favors. In early 5th century BC the secrecy of ballot at ecclesia

256-493: A case is transferred to a different judge in the law division's trial section. Those uninitiated and unfamiliar with practicing law in Cook County should be aware that almost all litigation concerning any given case predominantly takes place before the judge presiding over the case in the Law Division's motion section. To put this in perspective, an ordinary case will usually spend two years and 11 months being presided over by

320-412: A few exceptions: The right to hold elections by secret ballot is included in numerous treaties and international agreements that obligate their signatory states: Ballot design and polling place architecture often deny the disabled the possibility to cast a vote secretly. In many democracies disabled persons may vote by appointing another person who is allowed to join them in the voting booth and fill

384-425: A motion section judge, before being transferred to a separate judge in the Law Division's trial section where a two-week trial before a jury will ensue. As of 2018 , twenty-six judges preside over the Law Division's trial section. While Judge James P. Flannery Jr. presides over all law division cases filed in Cook County, he is also the supervising judge overseeing all judges within the Law Division's trial section at

448-414: A physical or electronic in-person system or through a roll call vote . Some faster legislative voting methods do not record who voted in which way, though witnesses in the legislative chambers may still notice a given legislator's vote. These include voice votes where the volume of shouting for or against is taken as a measure of numerical support and counting of raised hands. In some cases, a secret ballot

512-467: A whole, admitted that the secret ballot was one of the two points he could support. The London School Board election of 1870 was Britain's first large-scale election by secret ballot. After several failed attempts (several of them spearheaded by George Grote ), the secret ballot was eventually extended generally in the Ballot Act 1872 , substantially reducing the cost of campaigning (as treating

576-783: A will; construction of wills, and actions arising under the Illinois Power of Attorney Act. The Criminal Division hears cases in which the State of Illinois alleges the commission of a serious criminal act (other than those heard by the Domestic Violence Division) such as armed robbery, assault, burglary, criminal sexual assault, murder, among others, generally involving jury trials. This division also hears actions regarding habeas corpus and extradition in criminal matters, and petitions to expunge records of arrest. The George N. Leighton Criminal Courts Building on

640-473: Is a voting method in which a voter 's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation , blackmailing, and potential vote buying . This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy. Secret ballots are used in conjunction with various voting systems . The most basic form of a secret ballot utilizes paper ballots upon which each voter marks their choices. Without revealing

704-581: Is additionally no proof that could be produced that you did vote certain way, perhaps contravening directions . Article 31 of the Constitution of the Year III of the Revolution (1795) states that "All elections are to be held by secret ballot". The same goes with the constitution of 1848 : voters could hand-write the name of their preferred candidate on their ballot at home (the only condition

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768-434: Is also known as the "Massachusetts ballot". Seven states did not have government-printed ballots until the 20th century. Georgia started using them in 1922. When South Carolina followed suit in 1950, this completed the nationwide switch to Australian ballots. The 20th century also brought the first criminal prohibitions against buying votes in 1925. While U.S. elections are now held primarily by secret ballot, there are

832-668: Is divided into six geographic districts. Each district is supervised by a presiding judge. The First Municipal District encompasses the City of Chicago. Municipal Districts Two through Six encompass the communities in suburban Cook County. The Municipal Department hears civil suits for damages up to $ 30,000 in the First Municipal District & up to $ 100,000 in Municipal Districts Two through Six, and less serious criminal matters. This Department hears

896-488: Is supervised by an administrative presiding judge and is located in the Richard J. Daley Center. The Cook County Juvenile Court was the first juvenile court established in the U.S., in 1899. During its first quarter century, its most important person was Mary Bartelme , whose official titles were Cook County Public Guardian and then (after 1913) assistant to the judge. Bartelme devoted much of her life to child welfare and

960-734: Is the Circuit Court of Cook County's newest department. Prior to its creation as a full-status department by then Chief Judge Donald P. O'Connell in January 1995, the Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Department was originally known as the Juvenile Justice Division and functioned as a part of the County Department. The establishment of the Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Department marked

1024-516: Is the presiding judge of Cook County's law division, and oversees all other judges within that division. The vast majority of cases filed, litigated, and tried in Cook County's law division take place in the Daley Center, which sits in Chicago. The Daley Center is also known as the first municipal district. In 2016, it usually took an average law division case three years to run its course from

1088-562: Is thought to be justified as a security arrangement so that false ballot papers could be identified if there was an allegation of fraud. The process of matching ballot papers to voters is formally permissible only if an Election Court requires it; the Election Court has rarely made such an order since the secret ballot was introduced in 1872 . One example was in a close local election contest in Richmond-upon-Thames in

1152-436: Is used to allow representatives to choose party leadership without fear of retaliation against those voting for losing candidates. The parliamentary tactics of forcing or avoiding a roll call vote can be used to discourage or encourage representatives to vote in a manner that is politically unpopular among constituents (for example, if a policy considered to be in the public interest is difficult to explain or unpopular but without

1216-622: The Cook County Jail . Prior to 1929, the Criminal Division was located at Courthouse Place in the Near North Side . The Domestic Violence Division hears both civil and criminal actions involving issues of domestic violence. Some of the types of actions this division hears are: civil orders of protection, civil no contact orders, stalking no contact orders, and criminal actions involving relationships defined by

1280-763: The United States , the Netherlands , Slovenia , Albania or India allow disabled voters to use electronic voting machines . In others, among them Azerbaijan , Canada , Ghana , the United Kingdom , and most African and Asian countries, visually impaired voters can use ballots in Braille or paper ballot templates. Article 29 also requires that Contracting States ensure "that voting procedures, facilities and materials are appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use." In some democracies, e.g.,

1344-588: The ballot selfie has challenged the secrecy of in-person voting. In systems of direct democracy , such as the Swiss Landsgemeinde , voting is typically conducted publicly to ensure all citizens can observe the outcome. The secret ballot became commonplace for individual citizens in democracies worldwide by the late 20th century. Votes taken by elected officials are typically public, so citizens can judge officials' and former officials' voting records in future elections. This may be done with

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1408-556: The judiciary of Illinois as well as one of the largest unified court systems in the United States  – second only in size to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County since that court merged with other courts in 1998. The modern Cook County Circuit Court was created through a 1964 amendment to the Illinois Constitution which reorganized the courts of Illinois. The amendment effectively merged

1472-432: The polling place for the voters to record their preferences in secret, and the ballots are designed to eliminate bias and prevent anyone from linking voters to the ballot. A privacy problem arises with moves to improve the efficiency of voting by the introduction of postal voting and remote electronic voting . Some countries permit proxy voting , but some argue this is inconsistent with voting privacy. The popularity of

1536-584: The 1800s and the first quarter of the 1900s, especially 1892. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on June 9, 1993. In 1929, the Criminal Courts left the 54 West Hubbard Street location as did the Cook County Jail , and the building was then occupied by the Chicago Board of Health and other city agencies. After poor alterations and years of neglect, the building was acquired by a private developer, Friedman Properties, Ltd in 1985. The property

1600-580: The Circuit Court of Cook County is organized into three functional departments: County, Municipal, and Juvenile Justice and Child Protection. As of December 2014 , the court has 402 judges. Among them, 257 of the judges are circuit judges, who are elected for six-year terms either at-large from across the entire county, or from one of the court's 15 residential subcircuits. Circuit judges must be retained by voters every six years. The Illinois Supreme Court can fill circuit judge vacancies between elections. Any court-appointed judges must go before voters at

1664-940: The Cook County Commercial Calendars. The Mortgage Foreclosure/Mechanics Lien Section hears actions concerning the Mechanics Lien Act, liens on chattels for labor or storage, other lien remedies, and all actions and related proceedings initiated under the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law. The Domestic Relations Division hears matters concerning the family, including: dissolution of marriage, legal separation, invalidity of marriage, civil orders of protection, child support, child custody and visitation, parentage, and enforcement and modification of previously entered judgments in these matters. This division does not hear adoption or guardianship cases, which are heard in

1728-868: The County Division and Probate Division, respectively. The County Division hears the following types of actions: adoption, marriage of minors, annexation and deannexation of land to a tax body, elections, inheritance taxes, mental health proceedings, real estate taxes, municipal organizations, and actions involving the forfeiture of seized property, name changes, and other matters the Circuit Court of Cook County has jurisdiction over but are not otherwise provided for. The Probate Division hears matters concerning wills and administration of estates. Cases heard include: probate and contest of wills and testamentary instruments; claims against an estate arising in contract, tort or otherwise; administration of estates of decedents, disabled persons, minors and wards; contracts to make

1792-659: The Daley Center. The job of judges presiding over a case transferred to that judge in the Law Division's trial section is to oversee the trial in the case. This includes adjudicating motions in limine , voir dire , the trial itself, and post-trial motions filed after the jury in the case has returned a verdict, if at all. The Law Division includes Commercial Calendars, with eight assigned Commercial Calendar judges, one of whom acts as Supervising Judge (the Hon. Patrick J. Sherlock as of April 2024). The Commercial Calendars have specialized jurisdiction over commercial disputes, and function as

1856-602: The Illinois Domestic Violence Act. The Elder Law and Miscellaneous Remedies Division hears actions and proceedings involving elderly persons. Some examples of the types of cases this division hears are: powers of attorney, cases arising under the Adult Protective Services Act, domestic violence cases involving elderly persons, and certain criminal matters in which an elderly person is the victim. "The Municipal Department

1920-479: The United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States, all the polling places already are fully accessible for disabled voters. The United Kingdom secret ballot arrangements are sometimes criticized because linking a ballot paper to the voter who cast it is possible. Each ballot paper is individually numbered, and each elector has a number. When an elector is given a ballot paper, their number is noted down on

1984-441: The ability to link some ballots to voters. This may, for example, be used with absentee voting to retain the ability to cancel a vote if the voter dies before election day. Sometimes the number on the ballot is printed on a perforated stub which is torn off and placed on a ring (like a shower curtain ring) before the ballot is cast into the ballot box. The stubs prove that an elector has voted and ensure they can only vote once, but

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2048-693: The ballot in their name. This does not assure secrecy of the ballot. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , which entered into force in 2008, ensures a secret ballot for disabled voters. Article 29 of the Convention requires that all Contracting States protect "the right of the person with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums ". According to this provision, each Contracting State should provide voting equipment enabling disabled voters to vote independently and secretly. Some democracies, e.g.

2112-504: The ballots are both secret and anonymous. At the end of voting day, the number of ballots inside the box should match the number of stubs on the ring, certifying that a registered elector cast every ballot and that none of them were lost or fabricated. Sometimes, the ballots themselves are numbered, making the vote trackable. In 2012 in Colorado, this procedure was ruled legal by Federal District Judge Christine Arguello , who determined that

2176-417: The boxes. Individual states moved to secret ballots soon after the presidential election of 1884 , finishing with Kentucky in 1891 when it quit using an oral ballot. Initially, however, a state's new ballot did not necessarily have all four components of an "Australian ballot": After ballots are cast and no longer identifiable to the voter, several states make the ballots and copies of them available to

2240-468: The control of a parent, guardian or custodian), among others. The Child Protection Division hears cases involving child abuse , child neglect , child dependency, private guardianship, and termination of parental rights. The Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Resource Section serves as liaison to the academic, business and religious communities to identify and develop services and resources that will augment programs vital to juvenile justice. The section

2304-420: The counterfoil of the ballot paper (which also carries the ballot paper number). This means, of course, that the secrecy of the ballot is not guaranteed if anyone can gain access to the counterfoils, which are locked away securely before the ballot boxes are opened at the count. Polling station officials colluding with election scrutineers may, therefore, determine how individual electors have voted. This measure

2368-457: The court's circuit judges. The circuit judges also elect among themselves a chief judge for the court, provides administration for the court and holds the power to assign judges to various calls throughout the court. Circuit Judge Timothy C. Evans has served as chief judge since September 2001. Iris Martinez is the current Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County  – a county-wide popularly elected position charged with managing

2432-469: The court's vast amounts of documents and related matters. Before 1964, a different incarnation of the Circuit Court of Cook County coexisted with many other courts in Cook County. The County Department is divided into the following divisions: Law, Chancery, Domestic Relations, County, Probate, Criminal, Domestic Violence, and Elder Law and Miscellaneous Remedies. Each division is headed by a presiding judge. The types of cases heard in each division depend on

2496-485: The day-to-day events here. Other authors of Chicago's 1920s literary renaissance who were employed in the fourth floor pressroom include Carl Sandburg , Sherwood Anderson , and Vincent Starrett . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on November 13, 1984 with ID 8400028, and was labelled as significant in the areas of law, politics/government, and architecture, in the last quarter of

2560-633: The first Commercial Calendar judge. All Commercial Calendars are subject to a uniform standing order. The Law Division has a court-annexed mediation program. Judge Allen S. Goldberg , who served as a Commercial Calendar Judge from 2000-2011, headed the committee that drafted rules for the Cook County Circuit Court Law Division's court-annexed mediation program. Outside of the Daley Center , cases filed in Cook County's Law Division which takes place at any of

2624-603: The first restructuring of the Circuit Court of Cook County in its thirty-year history. The department is divided into two divisions: Juvenile Justice and Child Protection. Each division is headed by a presiding judge. The Juvenile Justice Division hears cases involving delinquent minors under 17 years of age. The Juvenile Justice Division also orders programs and services to rehabilitate these minors and monitors their progress through probation officers. Cases heard include: minors addicted to alcohol or other drugs , minors requiring authoritative intervention (runaways or those beyond

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2688-442: The following types of actions: injunctions, class actions, declaratory judgments, contract matters, creditors' rights, construction of wills and trusts, trusteeships, receiverships, dissolution of partnerships and corporations, statutory and administrative reviews, and vehicle impoundments, among others. The Chancery Court hears business cases that would fall within the jurisdiction of business courts in many states, which remain outside

2752-405: The following types of cases: housing, eviction proceedings, small claims, licenses, misdemeanor criminal proceedings and felony preliminary hearings other than domestic violence matters, ordinance and traffic enforcement, contract cases decided by alternative dispute resolution process, and cases subject to mandatory arbitration , among others. The Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Department

2816-522: The four laws were put in place in relatively quick succession, with one each in the years 139 BC, 137 BC, and 131 BC, applying respectively to the elections of magistrates , jury deliberations excepting charges of treason as well as the passage of laws. The final of the four laws was implemented more than two decades later in 107 BC and served solely to expand the law passed in 137 BC to require secret ballots for all jury deliberations, including treason. Before these ballot laws, one

2880-724: The late 1970s with three disputed ballots and a declared majority of two votes. Reportedly, prisoners in a UK prison were observed identifying voters' ballot votes on a list in 2008. The legal authority for this system is set out in the Parliamentary Elections Rules in Schedule 1 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 . Most states guarantee a secret ballot in the United States . But some states, including Indiana and North Carolina , require

2944-651: The nature of the controversy. The Law Division hears civil suits for recovery of monetary damages in excess of $ 30,000 in the city of Chicago, and in excess of $ 100,000 in the suburban districts, as well as many types of administrative reviews. Cases heard include: personal injury and wrongful death, motor vehicle injury, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, product liability, intentional tort, construction injuries, commercial litigation, fraud, breach of contract, breach of warranty, employment security, property damage, premises liability, and miscellaneous remedies. As of January 2018 , The Honorable Judge James P. Flannery Jr.,

3008-549: The next available primary and general election in an even-numbered year. As of December 2014, seven judges currently elected as circuit judges are instead serving as justices on the Illinois Appellate Court 's First District through Supreme Court appointments. Should their term on the appellate court expire before their elected circuit court terms, they will revert to their old positions. Another 145 judges are associate judges, elected by secret ballot among

3072-472: The often confusing and overlapping jurisdictions of Cook County 's 161 courts, which were organized as municipal courts (such as the Municipal Court of Chicago ) and specialized courts, into one uniform and cohesive court of general jurisdiction , organized into divisions, under the administration of one chief judge. More than 2.4 million cases are filed every year. To accommodate its vast caseload,

3136-430: The original Tasmanian Electoral Act 1856 was "re-discovered" recently, credit for the first implementation of the secret ballot often went to Victoria, where the former mayor of Melbourne William Nicholson pioneered it, and simultaneously South Australia . Victoria enacted legislation for secret ballots on 19 March 1856, and South Australian Electoral Commissioner William Boothby generally gets credit for creating

3200-508: The original complaint being filed to jury verdict. Also, because of the sheer number of cases filed within the Daley Center's law division, it is broken up into two sections: the motion section and the trial section. As of 2018, ten judges preside over the Law Division's motion section, which are all located on the Daley Center's 22nd floor. As of 2018, the Honorable Judge Kathy Flanagan is the supervising judge over

3264-543: The other five municipal court houses in Cook County are usually presided over by a single judge who presides over the case's motions and the corresponding trial. The Chancery Division hears actions and proceedings, regardless of the amount of the claim, concerning a variety of matters. The division consists two sections: General Chancery Section and the Mortgage Foreclosure/Mechanics Lien Section. The General Chancery Section hears

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3328-495: The other judges presiding over cases within the Law Division's motion section. Simply distilled, the job of the judges presiding over cases within the Law Division's motion section is to oversee the attorneys handling the case to ensure that they are preparing the case for trial in a timely fashion. Another equally important duty the judges in the motion section have is to hear dispositive motions, oversee discovery disputes, and adjudicate critical questions of law that only arise before

3392-522: The public so the public can check counts and do other research with the anonymous ballots. Louisville, Kentucky , was the first city in the United States to adopt the Australian ballot. It was drafted by Lewis Naphtali Dembitz , the uncle of and inspiration for future Supreme Court associate justice Louis Brandeis . Massachusetts adopted the first state-wide Australian ballot, written by reformer Richard Henry Dana III , in 1888. Consequently, it

3456-612: The reform of juvenile laws, and became an associate justice in 1923 and presiding judge in 1927. Accusations have been made of corruption in the Probate Division, resulting in a three-year suspension recommendation against the accusing attorney by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission . Secret ballot The secret ballot , also known as the Australian ballot ,

3520-604: The secret ballot to occur. According to the official website of the Assemblée nationale (the lower house of the French parliament), the voting booth was permanently adopted only in 1913. The demand for a secret ballot was one of the six points of Chartism . The British parliament of the time refused even to consider the Chartist demands. Still, Lord Macaulay , in an 1842 speech, while rejecting Chartism's six points as

3584-518: The secret ballot, but a reading of sections 206, 207, 325, and 327 of the Act would imply its assumption. Sections 323 and 226(4), however, apply the principle of a secret ballot to polling staff and would also support the assumption. New Zealand implemented secret voting in 1870. Before the final years of the 19th century, partisan newspapers printed filled-out ballots, which party workers distributed on election day so voters could drop them directly into

3648-480: The southwest side, in South Lawndale houses the Criminal Division. A rather elaborate neoclassical and art deco inspired high-rise built in the late 1920's, the criminal courts building was long known by just its cross-street location "26th and Cal" (26th Street and California Avenue) and has held many high profile cases. Often seen in films and television, it is located next to a modernist extension and

3712-626: The system finally enacted into law in South Australia on 2 April of that same year (a fortnight later). The other British colonies in Australia followed: New South Wales (1858), Queensland (1859), and Western Australia (1877). State electoral laws, including the secret ballot, applied for the first election of the Australian parliament in 1901, and the system has continued to be a feature of federal elections and referendums. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 does not explicitly set out

3776-439: The votes, the voter folds the ballot paper in half and places it in a sealed box. This box is later emptied for counting. An aspect of secret voting is the provision of a voting booth to enable the voter to write on the ballot paper without others being able to see what is being written. Today, printed ballot papers are usually provided, with the names of the candidates or questions and respective check boxes. Provisions are made at

3840-735: Was no longer realistically possible) and was first used on 15 August 1872 to re-elect Hugh Childers as MP for Pontefract in a ministerial by-election following his appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . The original ballot box , sealed in wax with a licorice stamp, is held at Pontefract museum. However, the UK uses numbered ballots to allow courts to intervene, under rare circumstances, to identify which candidate voters voted for. In Australia, secret balloting appears to have been first implemented in Tasmania on 7 February 1856. Until

3904-547: Was not the primary concern, but more of a consequence of using ballots to count the votes accurately. Secret ballot was introduced into public life of Athens during second half of the fifth century. In ancient Rome , the Tabellariae Leges ( English: Ballot Laws) were four laws that implemented secret ballots for votes cast regarding each of the major elected assemblies of the Roman Republic . Three of

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3968-511: Was required to verbally provide their vote to an individual responsible for tallying the votes, effectively publicly making every voter's vote known. Mandating secret ballots had the effect of reducing the influence of the Roman aristocracy, who were capable of influencing elections through a combination of bribes and threats. Secret balloting helps assuage both of those concerns, as not only are one's peers unable to determine which way you voted, there

4032-447: Was restored and refurbished as "Courthouse Place," an office development later expanded to include the restoration of other surrounding historic buildings. North Market Hall was previously erected at the site in 1851. Circuit Court of Cook County#Criminal Division The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 25 circuit courts ( trial courts of original and general jurisdiction ) in

4096-503: Was to write on white paper ) or receive one distributed on the street. The ballot was folded in order to prevent other people from reading its contents. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte attempted to abolish the secret ballot for the 1851 plebiscite with an electoral decree requesting electors to write down "yes" or "no" (in French: "oui" or "non") under the eyes of everyone. But he faced strong opposition and finally changed his mind, allowing

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