Cook County court clerk launches e-ticket pilot program

Drivers issued traffic citations in suburban Cook County may receive tickets through a quicker electronic process under a pilot program launched this week by the circuit clerk’s office.

Rather than waiting about a week or longer for a handwritten, mailed ticket to be entered in the court system, the new “e-citation” pilot program can make tickets available within a day or two.

Forty municipalities and the Cook County sheriff’s office are participating in the program, according to Circuit Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos’s office.

Her office is hoping to bring the Chicago Police Department and all other Cook County municipalities into the program.

Normally, when a driver is issued a citation, the responding officer writes a paper ticket and mails it to the circuit clerk’s office. The clerk’s office then retypes the ticket into the court system and the case is opened a day or two later.

The new program allows officers to issue the ticket electronically, which is sent securely to the clerk’s office for review before opening the court case.

Only moving violations, such as speeding, failure to stop, seat belt violation, uninsured vehicle and registration violation, are eligible for the program. Parking and camera-related violations do not apply to the program, according to the clerk’s office.

Payments can be made at cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/e-citation.

The e-citation initiative is part of Spyropoulos’s effort to modernize the circuit clerk’s office, which has also included a mobile application for additional access to online payments and case searches, an online records center for archived files and court documents, as well as expanded language services through live interpretation.