Committeemen and Committeewomen (Cook County, Illinois)

Ward Committeemen and Township Committeemen are political party officials who serve many standard committeemen and committeewomen duties on behalf of their political party in Cook County, Illinois.

In Cook County, the city of Chicago is divided into 50 wards that each have elected committeemen for each party in addition to a single elected alderman.^[1][2][3] In addition, each of the 30 townships within Cook County has a committeeman for each party.^[1][4][5] The committeemen are elected during the municipal primary elections.^[6] The positions are unpaid with responsibilities that include voter registration, community forums, election materials, and election operations.^[1] In addition, the committeemen are responsible for producing smooth political processes during the elections in their wards, which includes attempting to produce high voter turnout.^[7]

Committeemen are voting members in the political organization of their party in the County.^[7] This roles gives them authority on behalf of the party to endorse replacements for some vacated political posts such as United States Congressman and state legislators (vacated United States Senate posts are appointed by the Illinois Governor and vacated Chicago City Council posts are appointed by the Chicago Mayor).^[8][9][10]

Operationally, sometimes the committeeman controls the ward, sometimes the alderman controls the committeeman and sometimes the committeeman and the alderman are one and the same.^[1] In many cases the committeeman also has influence over the doling out of jobs, favors, and services around the ward. Sometimes a committeeman accumulates sufficient influence to place his loyalists into political positions outside of the ward.^[1]

Notes

External links

• Democratic Ward Committeemen
• Republican Ward Committeemen
• Democratic Township Committeemen
• Republican Township Committeemen