Comparative Analysis of Texas, Illinois, and Colorado States
For my investigation, I picked Illinois and Colorado because they differ significantly from Texas in scope and other qualities that make them enjoyable to analyze.
State Judicial Systems
Like Texas, Illinois has a unified three-tiered judicial system, including the District judicial, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. The Illinois Constitution of 1970, Article VI, Judicial Article, allows for this system; the state of Illinois has 23 judicial districts (McDade, Mary W. n.d.). The Circuit Court, which handles civil and criminal proceedings, has original jurisdiction over all subjects except those over which the Supreme Court has actual authority.
In turn, the Colorado judicial system is a unified court system that includes limited jurisdiction district courts, general district courts, the Colorado Judicial of Appeals, and the Colorado Supreme Court (Weinstein-Tull, 2020). Colorado has 22 judicial districts, each of which is served by an elected district attorney and has various distinct sorts of courts within it.
Federal Mandates, Grant Programs, and Court Rulings Pushing to Address the Policy Problem
House Bill 21-1011, which tackles the political issue of voter suppression, was approved in Colorado. The goal is to make voting more accessible to people whose first language is not English (Weinstein-Tull, 2020). The measure compels the Secretary of State’s office, as well as county clerks and registrars in specified Colorado counties, to set up a multilingual voting hotline. Republicans in Colorado’s legislature have suggested proposals ranging from more aggressive purges of voter registers to mandating rigorous voter ID at polling sites and eliminating the vote-by-mail system that allows for a two-party voting system.
Colorado is one of several states that have created or are testing restricted online voting for persons with disabilities, including Nevada, West Virginia, and North Carolina. There, a federal court has ordered the state to introduce online voting choices for specific types of impairments. The new online voting option in Colorado is primarily intended to give extra alternatives for blind or visually challenged voters.
The same technique is utilized by Colorado state troopers as well as permanent citizens from other nations (Syed et al., 2022). Off-year municipal elections in Illinois result in reduced voter turnout, allowing powerful special interest groups more influence and lowering the worry of local voters. Illinois politics is attempting to change this by broadening the range of options available to voters.
Demographic Composition and Representation of Nondominant Groups in the Judicial Systems
Illinois
Ethnic minorities are involved in the judicial systems of all states. Whites make up 87.5 percent of the active judges on the Illinois Central District Court and 100 percent of the busy justices on the state’s Central District Court (McDade, Mary W. n.d.). Judge Joe B. McDade is the court’s only active African-American judge. On the Illinois Central District Court, there are no Asian, Hispanic, or American Indian judges or judges of more than one race or ethnicity.
Other Illinois courts also have notable ethnic diversity. The Southern District Court of Illinois comprises 67 percent white active judges and 50 percent black active judges (McDade, Mary W. n.d.). There is one African-American judge on the court, accounting for 33% of active judges and 50% of active judges (McDade, Mary W. n.d.). The Northern District Court of Illinois features four Asian American judges, accounting for 11% of the court’s active judges and 21% of all active judges.
Colorado
Whites comprise 70% of current judges in the Colorado District Court and 50% of busy justices in the Colorado Supreme Court (Colorado Supreme Court, n.d.). Judge Raymond P. Moore, the sole African-American judge on the court, represents 10% of its active judges and 17% of the total. Additionally, two Hispanic judges make up 20% of the court’s active judges and 33% of the total (Colorado Supreme Court, n.d.). There are no Asian or American Indian justices on the Colorado District Court, and no judges are of more than one race or ethnicity.
Comparative Analysis of Policy Outcomes in Each State
Colorado
When the political problem is addressed, state judicial systems become very different. Colorado, for example, has a single court system, but Illinois has a three-tiered system. Because Colorado has a unified judicial system, counties are able to hold some “mail-in” elections. Instead of going to typical voting stations, voters participate in these elections by selling votes delivered to them by the state. Colorado lawmakers made it simpler for those who are temporarily homeless due to a natural catastrophe to vote in 2021 and 2022, extended bilingual ballot access, and introduced electronic voting for persons with impairments. This has aided in the improvement of the legal system and brought us closer to resolving the issue of voter suppression.
Illinois
On the other side, the lack of alternative candidates is becoming a serious issue in Illinois. As the number of candidates on the ballot grows, so does participation in the election, and the state’s status reduces participation, further compounding the dilemma. Over numerous decades, fiscal policy decisions made by state legislators in Illinois have skewed the results in favor of the powerful and well-connected at the expense of the state’s neediest inhabitants and middle class. Increasing electoral competition by providing Illinois voters with numerous alternatives on the ballot might boost effective representation, encouraging lawmakers to vote more in accordance with the interests of their people.
References
Colorado Supreme Court (n.d.). Colorado Judicial Branch. Web.
McDade, Mary W. (n.d.). Illinois Courts. Web.
Syed, I., Bishop, M., Brannon, S., Hudson, E., & Lee, K. (2022). Designing accessible elections: Recommendations from disability voting rights advocates. Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, 21(1), 60-83. Web.
Weinstein-Tull, J. (2020). The structures of local courts. Virginia Law Review, 106(5), 1031-1106. Web.