| Elections in Illinois |
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Elections in Illinois provide for the election of over 40,000 elected seats across over 6,000 units of government.[1]
In a 2020 study, Illinois was ranked as the 4th easiest state for citizens to vote in.[2]
YouTube Encyclopedic
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Does your vote count? The Electoral College explained - Christina Greer
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The Election of 1860 & the Road to Disunion: Crash Course US History #18
Transcription
Most people have heard of the Electoral College during presidential election years. But what exactly is the Electoral College? Simply said, it is a group of people appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. To understand how this process began and how it continues today, we can look at the Constitution of the United States: article two, section one, clause two of the constitution. It specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election. How do they decide on the number 538? Well, the number of electors is equal to the total voting membership of the United States Congress. 435 representatives, plus 100 senators, and 3 electors from the District of Columbia. Essentially, the Democratic candidate and Republican candidate are each trying to add up the electors in every state so that they surpass 270 electoral votes, or just over half the 538 votes, and win the presidency. So how do states even get electoral votes? Each state receives a particular number of electors based on population size. The census is conducted every 10 years, so every time the census happens, states might gain or lose a few electoral votes. Let's say you're a voter in California, a state with 55 electoral votes. If your candidate wins in California, they get all 55 of the state's electoral votes. If your candidate loses, they get none. This is why many presidential candidates want to win states like Texas, Florida, and New York. If you currently add up the electoral votes of those three states, you would have 96 electoral votes. Even if a candidate won North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Vermont, New Hampshire. Connecticut and West Virginia, they would only gain 31 electoral votes total from those eight states. Here is where it can get a little tricky. On a rare occasion, like in the year 2000, someone can win the popular vote but fail to gain 270 electoral votes. This means that the winner may have won and collected their electoral votes by small margins, winning just enough states with just enough electoral votes, but the losing candidate may have captured large voter margins in the remaining states. If this is the case, the very large margins secured by the losing candidate in the other states would add up to over 50% of the ballots cast nationally. Therefore, the losing candidate may have gained more than 50% of the ballots cast by voters, but failed to gain 270 of the electoral votes. Some critics of the electoral college argue the system gives an unfair advantage to states with large numbers of electoral votes. Think of it this way. It is possible for a candidate to not get a single person's vote -- not one vote -- in 39 states, or the District of Columbia, yet be elected president by winning the popular vote in just 11 of these 12 states: California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia or Virginia. This is why both parties pay attention to these states. However, others argue that the electoral college protects small states such as Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire, and even geographically large states with small populations like Alaska, Wyoming and the Dakotas. That's because a candidate can't completely ignore small states, because in a close election, every electoral vote counts. There are certain states that have a long history of voting for a particular party. These are known as "safe states." For the past four election cycles -- in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 -- Democrats could count on states like Oregon, Maryland, Michigan and Massachusetts, whereas the Republicans could count on states like Mississippi, Alabama, Kansas and Idaho. States that are teetering between between parties are called "swing states." In the past four election cycles, Ohio and Florida have been swing states, twice providing electoral votes for a Democratic candidate, and twice providing electoral votes for a Republican candidate. Think about it. Do you live in a safe state? If so, is it a Democratic or Republican safe state? Do you live in a swing state? Are your neighboring states swing or safe? Is the population in your state increasing or decreasing? And do not forget, when you are watching the electoral returns on election night every four years and the big map of the United States is on the screen, know that the magic number is 270 and start adding.
Election system
Elections in Illinois are directly administered by 109 election authorities. Seven municipalities each have an election commission as the local election authority only within that municipality. Outside of those, the county clerk is the local election authority in 100 counties, and 2 counties have a separate election commission.[3] The local election authority's tasks include taking voter registration, selecting the polling places, ordering the ballots, training the election judges, overseeing the election itself, and supervising the vote count.[3]
The State Board of Elections (SBE) performs certain statewide election functions. Among its functions are providing uniform instructions, forms, and other material to the election authorities; adopting rules consistent with the other election law in Illinois; and approving the voting machines allowed for use by election authorities in Illinois. The SBE is also the election authority for accepting candidate petitions and nominations for certain state and national offices and for modifications to the Constitution of Illinois and other statewide referendums.[1][4]
Elections held
| Year | Republican / Whig | Democratic | Third party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2020 | 2,446,891 | 40.45% | 3,471,915 | 57.39% | 130,694 | 2.16% |
| 2016 | 2,146,015 | 38.35% | 3,090,729 | 55.24% | 358,535 | 6.41% |
| 2012 | 2,135,216 | 40.66% | 3,019,512 | 57.50% | 96,704 | 1.84% |
| 2008 | 2,031,179 | 36.73% | 3,419,348 | 61.83% | 79,652 | 1.44% |
| 2004 | 2,345,946 | 44.48% | 2,891,550 | 54.82% | 36,826 | 0.70% |
| 2000 | 2,019,421 | 42.58% | 2,589,026 | 54.60% | 133,676 | 2.82% |
| 1996 | 1,587,021 | 36.81% | 2,341,744 | 54.32% | 382,626 | 8.87% |
| 1992 | 1,734,096 | 34.34% | 2,453,350 | 48.58% | 862,711 | 17.08% |
| 1988 | 2,310,939 | 50.69% | 2,215,940 | 48.60% | 32,241 | 0.71% |
| 1984 | 2,707,103 | 56.17% | 2,086,499 | 43.30% | 25,486 | 0.53% |
| 1980 | 2,358,049 | 49.65% | 1,981,413 | 41.72% | 410,259 | 8.64% |
| 1976 | 2,364,269 | 50.10% | 2,271,295 | 48.13% | 83,269 | 1.76% |
| 1972 | 2,788,179 | 59.03% | 1,913,472 | 40.51% | 21,585 | 0.46% |
| 1968 | 2,174,774 | 47.08% | 2,039,814 | 44.15% | 405,161 | 8.77% |
| 1964 | 1,905,946 | 40.53% | 2,796,833 | 59.47% | 62 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 2,368,988 | 49.80% | 2,377,846 | 49.98% | 10,575 | 0.22% |
| 1956 | 2,623,327 | 59.52% | 1,775,682 | 40.29% | 8,398 | 0.19% |
| 1952 | 2,457,327 | 54.84% | 2,013,920 | 44.94% | 9,811 | 0.22% |
| 1948 | 1,961,103 | 49.22% | 1,994,715 | 50.07% | 28,228 | 0.71% |
| 1944 | 1,939,314 | 48.05% | 2,079,479 | 51.52% | 17,268 | 0.43% |
| 1940 | 2,047,240 | 48.54% | 2,149,934 | 50.97% | 20,761 | 0.49% |
| 1936 | 1,570,393 | 39.69% | 2,282,999 | 57.70% | 103,130 | 2.61% |
| 1932 | 1,432,756 | 42.04% | 1,882,304 | 55.23% | 92,866 | 2.73% |
| 1928 | 1,769,141 | 56.93% | 1,313,817 | 42.28% | 24,531 | 0.79% |
| 1924 | 1,453,321 | 58.84% | 576,975 | 23.36% | 439,771 | 17.80% |
| 1920 | 1,420,480 | 67.81% | 534,395 | 25.51% | 139,839 | 6.68% |
| 1916 | 1,152,549 | 52.56% | 950,229 | 43.34% | 89,929 | 4.10% |
| 1912 | 253,593 | 22.13% | 405,048 | 35.34% | 487,532 | 42.54% |
| 1908 | 629,932 | 54.53% | 450,810 | 39.02% | 74,512 | 6.45% |
| 1904 | 632,645 | 58.77% | 327,606 | 30.43% | 116,248 | 10.80% |
| 1900 | 597,985 | 52.83% | 503,061 | 44.44% | 30,851 | 2.73% |
| 1896 | 607,130 | 55.66% | 465,613 | 42.68% | 18,126 | 1.66% |
| 1892 | 399,288 | 45.70% | 426,281 | 48.79% | 48,078 | 5.50% |
| 1888 | 370,475 | 49.54% | 348,351 | 46.58% | 28,987 | 3.88% |
| 1884 | 337,469 | 50.17% | 312,351 | 46.43% | 22,850 | 3.40% |
| 1880 | 318,036 | 51.11% | 277,321 | 44.56% | 26,948 | 4.33% |
| 1876 | 278,232 | 50.20% | 258,611 | 46.66% | 17,384 | 3.14% |
| 1872 | 241,936 | 56.27% | 184,884 | 43.00% | 3,151 | 0.73% |
| 1868 | 250,304 | 55.69% | 199,116 | 44.31% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1864 | 189,512 | 54.42% | 158,724 | 45.58% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1860 | 172,171 | 50.69% | 160,215 | 47.17% | 7,280 | 2.14% |
| 1856 | 96,275 | 40.23% | 105,528 | 44.09% | 37,531 | 15.68% |
| 1852 | 64,733 | 41.77% | 80,378 | 51.87% | 9,863 | 6.36% |
| 1848 | 52,853 | 42.42% | 55,952 | 44.91% | 15,791 | 12.67% |
| 1844 | 45,854 | 42.05% | 58,795 | 53.91% | 4,408 | 4.04% |
| 1840 | 45,574 | 48.91% | 47,441 | 50.92% | 160 | 0.17% |
| 1836 | 15,220 | 45.31% | 18,369 | 54.69% | 0 | 0.00% |
Regular elections
There are four types of regular elections in Illinois: the general primary election and the general election, which occur in even years, and the consolidated primary election and the consolidated election, which occur in odd years.[6]
The election day for the general election is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even year,[7] which is the day usually associated with election day in the United States. Its associated general primary election is held on the preceding third Tuesday in March.[7]
The election day for the consolidated election is the first Tuesday in April of each odd year, unless that day is during Passover, in which case the election is the first Tuesday after Passover.[7][8] Its associated consolidated primary election is held on the preceding last Tuesday in February.[7] The consolidated election was established in 1982; before this, many local governments held separate elections on unrelated days at unrelated places.[6]
Special elections
Illinois statutes limit special elections to specific circumstances, prohibiting all other elections from being held at any other time than for the regular elections.[9]
Vacancies
United States Congress
If a seat in the United States House of Representatives becomes vacant more than 240 days before the next general election, the governor chooses a date within 180 days and issues a writ of election to hold a special election on the chosen day for that congressional district.[10]
Election judges
Illinois high school student election judges
High school students in many states across the country are permitted to serve as election judges (poll workers) in their states, even when the students are not yet old enough to vote. In the 41 states that allow high school students to serve as election judges, the laws typically allow for students to work if they are 16 years of age and in good academic standing at their schools. Specific requirements vary from state to state. Some states do not allow high school students to serve as election judges, or the law has no specific provisions for persons who are not yet eligible to vote. The following states permit high school students to serve as election judges:[11] Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.[citation needed]
The State of Illinois, specifically Chicago, has a robust model.[according to whom?] Chicago's contingencies of student judges are the largest in the country. Illinois law[12] provided that students meet the following criteria to serve as Election Judges:
- Be a high school junior or senior in good standing;
- Have a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale;
- Be a U.S. citizen by Election Day;
- Be able to read, write, and speak English;
- Successfully complete a 4-hour training session;
- Be able to work on Election Day beginning at 5 a.m. until all duties are completed after the polls close;
- Be recommended by his/her high school principal;
- Have the written approval of his/her parent or legal guardian.,[13][14]
There is no minimum age requirement to serve as a student election judge in Illinois. A maximum of two high school students, 1 from each party, may serve in each precinct.[15] In the City of Chicago, a partnership between the Chicago Board of Elections and Mikva Challenge, a non-partisan civic engagement organization, has contributed to the Election Board leading the nation in the utilization of student judges.[16]
See also
- Politics of Illinois
- Political party strength in Illinois
- Electoral reform in Illinois
- Government of Illinois
- United States presidential elections in Illinois
- Women's suffrage in Illinois
Statewide offices
- Illinois gubernatorial elections
- Illinois Attorney General elections
- Illinois Comptroller elections
- Elected officials
- Illinois General Assembly
- Governor of Illinois
- Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
- Illinois Treasurer
- Illinois Attorney General
- Illinois Comptroller
Further reading
- MacRae, Duncan; Meldrum, James A. (1960). "Critical Elections in Illinois: 1888–1958". American Political Science Review. 54 (3): 669–683.
References
- ^ a b Illinois State Board of Elections (PDF) (pamphlet), Springfield, Illinois: State Board of Elections, 2018-09-18, retrieved 2018-12-01
- ^ J. Pomante II, Michael; Li, Quan (15 Dec 2020). "Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020". Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. 19 (4): 503–509. doi:10.1089/elj.2020.0666. S2CID 225139517.
- ^ a b "Information For Voters". Springfield, Illinois: State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ State Board of Elections (10 ILCS 5/1A-8) as of 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Presidential General Election Results Comparison - Illinois". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
- ^ a b de Souza Guedes, Dorothy (March 26, 2001). "Illinois' consolidated elections are costly, but haven't increased voter turnout". Quad City Times (online ed.). Davenport, Iowa. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ a b c d Time of Holding Elections (10 ILCS 5/2A-1.1) as of 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ Time of Holding Elections (10 ILCS 5/2A-1.1a) as of 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ Time of Holding Elections (10 ILCS 5/2A-1). Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ 10 ILCS 5/25-7 ILCS as of 2015-07-31. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^ State Profiles Archived 2014-06-11 at the Wayback Machine; American Education EDU;
- ^ SB0387s; regarding "Election Judge HS Seniors"; passed on July 29, 1999.
- ^ article; Chicago Elections on line.
- ^ Legislation; Illinois Government.
- ^ Student Election Judges; Cook County Clerk website; .
- ^ Mikva Challenge Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine; organization website; .
External links
- Illinois State Board of Elections Archived 2019-06-21 at the Wayback Machine — official website
- Illinois Online Voter Application Website Archived 2016-05-13 at the Wayback Machine — official website: allows voter registration, registration status lookup, and polling place lookup
- Illinois at Ballotpedia
- "State Elections Legislation Database", Ncsl.org, Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Legislatures,
State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year, 2020
This page was last edited on 4 March 2024, at 00:54