Naperville North High School junior Sarah Boettcher may be too young to vote in this November’s election, but that hasn’t stopped her from ensuring the rest of Illinois voters will make an informed choice when they mark their ballots.
Sarah, 16, is the developer of the Know Your State Judges website, in which she researched judicial candidates from across Illinois, outside of Cook County, to compile a nonpartisan look at how judges are elected and retained.
She began her project last summer in preparation for the 2024 primary election and has continued to update the website for the Nov. 5 general election. In addition to her website, she’s set up Facebook, Instagram and X pages and is conducting interviews with media throughout the state to promote the page.
“If I can’t (vote), at least I can try and get other people to make more educated votes,” Sarah said.
Judges in Illinois can be appointed, elected or retained, but voters don’t usually have a lot of information about the candidates when compared to national or local elections, she said. But judges have a lot of power to make impactful decisions, making their selection that much more important, she said.
It was easier to find information about Cook County judges so she concentrated her research on the rest of the state. It was especially important to her to present the information in a nonpartisan fashion, without any bias, she said.
“When I was doing my own research … there was very little understandable and accessible information for voters,” Sarah said. “I think specifically for this election year it’s so important because not only are there so many hot topics, but we have this high focus on state decisions versus federal decisions. There’s a movement towards state decisions so the people voters vote on the bench are going to make increasingly more and more decisions that’ll affect the rest of Illinois.”
Some of those hot button topics range from climate change to gun control to abortion rights, she said.
Her website, www.knowyourstatejudges.org, gives voters a one-stop manual to helpful judicial information, including maps of the state’s various judicial districts, candidates who are running for the supreme, appellate and circuit courts, and the March primary results.
“I wanted to make the website as beginner-friendly as possible,” Sarah said.
Voters can click on candidates to learn about their past experience, where they attended college, and whether they were rated or recommended by the Illinois State Bar Association.
She was especially surprised to learn that some of the judges were not recommended.
“The question of if they will be retained really lies with the people,” she said.
Sarah has provided links to candidates’ websites or Facebook pages if they have them. Voters who want to know who financially contributed to the candidates’ campaign can find the donation amounts as well. Another section lists endorsements the candidate may have received.
“I really wanted to keep this as big of a database as possible because that is the goal to give as much information to Illinois voters,” she said.
Sarah estimated she put hundreds of hours into her project. In addition to internet research, she attended a few local candidate forums and reached some judges on the phone to verify their information.
“I wanted to quadruple check it to make sure it was right,” she said.
Sarah has linked other relevant websites, including ballotpedia.org and illinoissunshine.org, for voters to continue their research.
Because she was new to website development, the task of sharing a vast amount of information a little challenging, she said.
“It definitely was overwhelming at the beginning, finding all the candidates and planning out what information I wanted to put on the website,” Sarah said. “Injustice Watch really helped. They talked me through how they created their Cook County judicial guide and let me know that if I had any questions I could always reach out again.”
Injustice Watch, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom that investigates the Cook County court system, praised Sarah’s website on their X page right before the spring primary election. The organization posted that they are often asked if they have an election guide for judicial races outside Cook County. Since they don’t, they applauded Sarah’s efforts to educate the community.
Her website started as a hobby because of her interest in politics, Sarah said. She will likely study political science in college, she said.
Right now, she serves as vice president of the Naperville North Civic Leaders of America club and director of fundraising for the Civic Leaders Midwest Region, which includes 10 states. She is also co-executive editor of her school’s literary magazine.
Sarah said she plans to watch the results of the November election closely.
“I’m excited to see how it turns out,” she said. “I’m hoping as many people go out to vote as possible. Your vote is your voice.”
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
