To the editor:
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On judicial subcircuits: If you took the Democratic ballot in the eighth subcircuit, you faced a choice of 101 candidates for 17 judgeships. This was far too many. Eighty-five of those candidates, however, were for the 14 judicial seats elected countywide. The interested citizen has an outside chance of understanding the race in his subcircuit and casting an informed ballot; this is not true for the old process.
What subcircuit races lack is a commitment by the community, social, and media institutions to make them work. When there were 12 candidates for 48th Ward Alderman in ’87, there were scores of forums for the voters to attend and make their selection. Only the IVI-IPO brought the candidates of the subdistrict together, and an endorsement session has one format and a forum has another.
Frank Palmer
