The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is the
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
of
Circuit Court of Cook County
The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 25 Illinois circuit courts, circuit courts (trial courts of original jurisdiction, original and general jurisdiction) in the judiciary of Illinois as well as one of the largest unified cour ...
, located in
Cook County
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
.
Office description
The office was first established in 1831, the year that Cook County was created. In 1848, the office of
Cook County recorder
The Cook County Recorder of Deeds was the recorder of deeds of county government in Cook County, Illinois, prior to the position's abolishment in 2020.
History of office
An early incarnation of a dedicated county recorder of deeds was establish ...
was merged into the office of clerk of the Circuit Court. The office was accordingly renamed as "clerk and recorder".
For decades thereafter, the office served not only as the Circuit Court's clerk, but also served as the
ex-officio
An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''List of Latin phrases (E)#ex officio, ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the off ...
county
recorder of deeds
Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights ove ...
.
This ended in 1872, when the county's recorder of deeds was again created as a separate office.
On January 1, 1964, the more than 200 courts of Cook County were unified.
[ Replacing the separate clerks that existed for different courts was a single popularly elected clerk of courts for newly merged Circuit Court of Cook County.][
]
Pre-1964 officeholders
Officeholders since 1964
The following individuals have held the office since the modern iteration of the Circuit Court of Cook County was established in 1964.
Recent election results
, -
, colspan=16 style="text-align:center;" , Clerk of the Circuit Court general elections
, -
!Year
!Winning candidate
!Party
!Vote (pct)
!Opponent
!Party
! Vote (pct)
!Opponent
!Party
! Vote (pct)
!Opponent
!Party
! Vote (pct)
, -
, 1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
, , Morgan M. Finley
, , Democratic
, , 1,260,257 (61.32%)
, , Deborah L. Murphy
, , Republican
, , 794,882 (38.68%)
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
, 1988
1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...
, , Aurelia Pucinski
Aurelia Marie Pucinski (born April 29, 1947) is a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. She previously served as a trial judge and clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Her second term expires in 2030.
Early life
Bor ...
, , Democratic
, , 1,170,558 (59.38%)
, , Edward R. Vrdolyak
, , Republican
, , 800,783 (40.62%)
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
, 1992
1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
* January 6
** The Republ ...
, , Aurelia Pucinski
, , Democratic
, , 1,349,837 (68.39%)
, , Herbert T. Schumann, Jr.
, , Republican
, , 486,185 (24.63%)
, Text style="background:#D2B48C , Deloris "Dee" Jones
, Text style="background:#D2B48C , Harold Washington Party
The Harold Washington Party was founded in Chicago in the late 1980s by Timothy C. Evans to represent the interests of the city's African-American population who felt disenchanted with the mainline Democratic Party.
History
The party was crea ...
, Text style="background:#D2B48C , 137,642 (6.97%)
,
,
,
, -
, 1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, , Aurelia Pucinski
, , Democratic
, , 1,149,216 (70.37%)
, , Sandra M. Stavropoulos
, , Republican
, , 397,191 (24.32%)
, Text style="background:#D2B48C , Philip Morris
, Text style="background:#D2B48C , Harold Washington Party
, Text style="background:#D2B48C , 64,204 (3.03%)
, Janet Dennis
, Justice Party
, 22,581 (1.38%)
, -
, 2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
, , Dorothy A. Brown
, , Democratic
, , 1,197,773 (72.94%)
, , Nancy F. Mynard
, , Republican
, , 444,336 (27.06%)
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
, 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, , Dorothy A. Brown
, , Democratic
, , 1,365,285 (74.06%)
, , Judith A. Kleiderman
, , Republican
, , 478,222 (25.94%)
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
, 2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
, , Dorothy A. Brown
, , Democratic
, , 1,315,731 (68.29%)
, , Dianne S. Shapiro
, , Republican
, , 517,115 (26.84%)
, , Paloma Andrade
, , Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
, , 93,906 (4.87%)
,
,
,
, -
, 2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
, , Dorothy A. Brown
, , Democratic
, , 1,291,499 (70.44%)
, , Diane S. Shapiro
, , Republican
, , 541,973 (29.56%)
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
, 2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
, , Dorothy A. Brown
, , Democratic
, , 1,345,696 (67.22%)
, , Diane S. Shapiro
, , Republican
, , 656,232 (32.78%)
,
,
,
,
,
,
, -
, 2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
, , Mariyana Spyropoulos
, , Democratic
, ,
, , Lupe Aguirre
, , Republican
, ,
, , Michael Murphy
, , Libertarian
, ,
,
,
,
References
{{Cook County, Illinois government