GOP officials are objecting to legislation they say was written "by the Chicago machine" to specifically carve out of contention two Madison County Republican circuit judges planning to run this November for the seats they currently occupy by appointment.
The state's Democratically controlled legislature passed a bill Jan. 5 establishing boundaries within the Third Judicial Circuits: three sub-circuits in Madison County and one in Bond County.
Republican Circuit Judges Chris Threlkeld and Amy Sholar do not currently live in Subcircuit 1 where the contest will be decided later this year.
More diversity on the bench was the stated reason for the measure. However, many stakeholders of Madison County's court system said they were not aware that the bill was even up for consideration until just before it passed, including Chief Judge William Mudge.
When asked by members of the county Judiciary Committee on Friday if he had participated in discussions about dividing the county into subcircuits, Mudge said no.
Circuit Clerk Tom McRae said Democrats have had the opportunity to make the Madison County bench as diverse as possible since they've held the majority on the court for many decades, and they get to decide who runs for office and who gets appointed to the associate bench.
At present, the Black population in Madison County is 9% of the total. Among nine circuit and 13 associate judges in the Third Judicial, 9% are Black - Associate Judges Ryan Jumper and Veronica Armouti.
The female population in Madison County is 51% of the total, yet the eight women on the bench comprise just 36% of total judgeships.
Political diversity on the bench is the most out of sync with the electorate. Five of 22 judges (23%) are Republican in a county where 55% of voters in 2020 chose Trump over Biden.
"Diversity was not the objective, they've had control for decades," McRae said. "This was done by the Chicago machine. This was done to impact this year's election just days before candidates can begin circulating nomination paperwork. This was done to displace Judge Threlkeld and Judge Sholar from the ballot, and rig things in Democrat candidates' favor."
The county map looks like this: Subcircuit 1 is the western portion of the county running north from Alton to the southern border, but it also is gerrymandered to the east into northern Edwardsville, to include the Fox Creek Golf community. The most compact of the three is Subcircuit 2, which includes Edwardsville south to Collinsville. Subcircuit 3 is the eastern portion which stretches from the northwest corner to the southeast corner of the county, including Highland.
Threlkeld lives in the new Subcircuit 2, just two-tenths of a mile from a subcircuit boundary. Circuit Judge Amy Sholar lives in an area of Subcircuit 3 that would have been in Subcircuit 1 had the boundary line been drawn in a compact, rather than gerrymandered manner.
Both announced last year their plans to run for their seats in which all Madison County voters would have participated.
But under the restructured subcircuit system, only voters within a particular subcircuit elect a judge, even though judges preside county-wide. Governor Pritzker signed the bill into law on Friday.
The first three vacancies that occur will take place in Subcircuit 1. (The first two vacancies are the seats Threlkeld -Dugan vacancy- and Sholar -Tognarelli vacancy- are seeking). Election for the third vacancy will occur the next time a circuit judge retires or otherwise leaves the bench. Elections for the next three vacancies will take place in Subcircuit 2 and the two after that will occur in Subcircuit 3.
Voters who live in Subcircuit 3 could be waiting a long time to elect a circuit judge.
County board member Mike Walters of Godfrey and chairman of the judiciary committee blasted the bill.
“It’s a sad day when the legislature overrides the voters’ will,” Walters said. “As Madison County moves more red, the state legislature decides to change our judicial boundaries.”
Walters said the legislation pushed through late on Jan. 5 also includes new new judicial “sub-circuits” in Sangamon and DuPage counties, however the effective date for those court systems will be in the 2024 election cycle.
“What these three counties have in common is that they are all Republican counties,” Walters said.
He also said the drawing of judicial boundaries was intended for control, not diversity.
“The way they gerrymandered this map will not create more diversity among judges,” Walters said. “Also, neither the Circuit Clerk nor any judges were contacted for their input. This is clearly a way for state legislators to gerrymander districts where they want to take control.
“Fairness is important, especially with courts of law. And this isn’t fair.”
Madison County Chair Kurt Prenzler said this process reminded him of what the General Assembly did to the Metro East Sanitary District.
“When I was elected County Board Chairman in 2016, I appointed three of the five members of the MESD board,” Prenzler said. “But the General Assembly couldn’t allow a Republican to appoint the majority. They took one appointment away from the county and gave it to the City of Granite City, to put the board back into the hands of Democrats.”
Also, before Prenzler’s election as Chairman, Madison County had two appointments on the Bi-State board, and St. Clair County had three. After Prenzler was elected, the General Assembly took one seat away from Madison County, leaving Madison County with one and St. Clair with four.