How the Elected Offices on Your 2026 Ballot Impact Civil Liberties

There are many important races down ballot in this Election which impact your rights and civil liberties.

August 10, 2026

How to research the candidates for elected offices on your ballot:

Find your sample ballot from your local election authority.
Check candidate websites, social media, local news sources, or attend local candidate events.
Check if organizations that you support have endorsements or information on candidate’s positions.
Local bar associations, including county bar associations, are likely to post evaluations of the judicial candidates.

How the Elected Offices on Your Ballot Impact the Issues You Care About:

Criminal Legal System Reform

The elected officials on your ballot can impact the criminal legal system by:

Judges: Preside over the criminal legal system, assuring fairness and due process. Judges have the power to decide if someone remains in custody pre-trial as their case proceeds.
County Board: Set the budget for funding supporting criminal legal system policies that elevate services and treatment over punishment and fines.
County Sheriff: Set priorities for law enforcement for the county including how and where to deploy officers and decisions about priorities and activities, including traffic stops and policies around consent searches. Responsible for overseeing county jail facilities, including the physical conditions and health care services available.
Secretary of State: Can adopt practices at all state facilities to assist people leaving the criminal legal system to get identification cards.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact state laws to improve conditions in prisons, reform long mandatory criminal sentences, and assist with reentry.

Judges: Preside over the criminal legal system, assuring fairness and due process. Judges have the power to decide if someone remains in custody pre-trial as their case proceeds.
County Board: Set the budget for funding supporting criminal legal system policies that elevate services and treatment over punishment and fines.
County Sheriff: Set priorities for law enforcement for the county including how and where to deploy officers and decisions about priorities and activities, including traffic stops and policies around consent searches. Responsible for overseeing county jail facilities, including the physical conditions and health care services available.
Secretary of State: Can adopt practices at all state facilities to assist people leaving the criminal legal system to get identification cards.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact state laws to improve conditions in prisons, reform long mandatory criminal sentences, and assist with reentry.

Immigration

The elected officials on your ballot can impact immigration by:

County Board Member: Restrict ICE from using county property or being at county courthouses for immigration enforcement.
County Sheriff: Assure that the Sheriff’s department complies with the Trust Act that bars local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.
Attorney General: Defends state laws, including attacks from the federal government, to roll back state protections for immigrant communities, including the Trust Act.
Secretary of State: Can set and implement that make access to identification documents easier for immigrants. And fights back against ICE’s practice of federal officers changing the license plates on their vehicles.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact state laws that protect immigrant residents in this state and guard against state and local officials cooperating with ICE.

County Board Member: Restrict ICE from using county property or being at county courthouses for immigration enforcement.
County Sheriff: Assure that the Sheriff’s department complies with the Trust Act that bars local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.
Attorney General: Defends state laws, including attacks from the federal government, to roll back state protections for immigrant communities, including the Trust Act.
Secretary of State: Can set and implement that make access to identification documents easier for immigrants. And fights back against ICE’s practice of federal officers changing the license plates on their vehicles.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact state laws that protect immigrant residents in this state and guard against state and local officials cooperating with ICE.

Reproductive and LGBTQ Rights

The elected officials on your ballot can impact reproductive and LGBTQ rights by:

Judges: Appellate, and Circuit Court judges can rule on the constitutionality of laws protecting access to abortion and gender-affirming care.
County Board: Pass zoning regulations to permit clinics and provide funding to increase access to abortion.
County Clerk: Create and implement programs to facilitate those seeking critical services, like changing the name or gender assignment on an Illinois birth certificate.
County Sheriffs: Ensure that information collected for law enforcement purposes – including by automatic license plate readers – is not used to track people who travel to Illinois in search of lawful health care barred in their home states.
Attorney General: Defend challenges to protective Illinois laws like the Reproductive Health Act that ensure the right of residents to make their own health care options for reproductive health care and gender affirming care.
Secretary of State: Set and implement policies for those changing the gender marker on state identification.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact statewide laws that build in additional civil liberties protections for people in Illinois, including protections for reproductive health care and LGBTQ rights.

Judges: Appellate, and Circuit Court judges can rule on the constitutionality of laws protecting access to abortion and gender-affirming care.
County Board: Pass zoning regulations to permit clinics and provide funding to increase access to abortion.
County Clerk: Create and implement programs to facilitate those seeking critical services, like changing the name or gender assignment on an Illinois birth certificate.
County Sheriffs: Ensure that information collected for law enforcement purposes – including by automatic license plate readers – is not used to track people who travel to Illinois in search of lawful health care barred in their home states.
Attorney General: Defend challenges to protective Illinois laws like the Reproductive Health Act that ensure the right of residents to make their own health care options for reproductive health care and gender affirming care.
Secretary of State: Set and implement policies for those changing the gender marker on state identification.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact statewide laws that build in additional civil liberties protections for people in Illinois, including protections for reproductive health care and LGBTQ rights.

Voting

The elected officials on your ballot can impact voting by:

Judges: Appellate, and Circuit Court judges can rule to protect the right to vote, and on the constitutionality of measures to make voting more accessible.
County Board: Set county budgets to allocate resources to elections – including updating voting machines and paying poll workers.
County Clerk: If responsible for operating elections in their county, can adopt policies like convenient polling locations, providing opportunities for early voting and placement of drop boxes.
Attorney General: Can defend Illinois voting laws from challenges – including attacks on mail-in-ballots and fighting attempts to gain access to voter’s data in the state.
Secretary of State: Can create systems to make it easier for residents to get state issued identification to use as voter registration, and fully enact automatic voter registration at facilities.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact state laws to increase access to voting, and place penalties for those who interfere with the election process.

Judges: Appellate, and Circuit Court judges can rule to protect the right to vote, and on the constitutionality of measures to make voting more accessible.
County Board: Set county budgets to allocate resources to elections – including updating voting machines and paying poll workers.
County Clerk: If responsible for operating elections in their county, can adopt policies like convenient polling locations, providing opportunities for early voting and placement of drop boxes.
Attorney General: Can defend Illinois voting laws from challenges – including attacks on mail-in-ballots and fighting attempts to gain access to voter’s data in the state.
Secretary of State: Can create systems to make it easier for residents to get state issued identification to use as voter registration, and fully enact automatic voter registration at facilities.
State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor: Enact state laws to increase access to voting, and place penalties for those who interfere with the election process.

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