1970 Illinois elections

1970 Illinois elections

←  1969 November 3, 1970 1972  →
Turnout	69.90%

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 3, 1970. ^[1]

Primaries were held on March 17, 1970. ^[1]

Additionally, on December 15, 1970, a special election was held in which Illinois voters voted in support of adopting a new proposed state constitution. ^[2]

Election information

1970 was a midterm election year in the United States.

Turnout

Turnout in the primary election was 29.88%, with a total of 1,570,317 ballots cast. 819,692 Democratic and 750,625 Republican primary ballots were cast. ^[1]

Turnout during the general election was 69.90%, with 3,731,006 ballots cast. ^[1]

2,017,717 people cast ballots in the December 15 special election regarding the proposed new Illinois constitution. ^[1]

Federal elections

United States Senate

Main article: 1970 United States Senate special election in Illinois

See also: 1970 United States Senate elections

A special election was held to fill the remainder of the term of Republican Everett Dirksen, who had died in office. Republican Ralph Tyler Smith had been appointed to fill the seat after Dirksen's death, and he lost the special election to Democrat Adlai Stevenson III.

United States House

Main article: 1970 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois

See also: 1970 United States House of Representatives elections

All 24 Illinois seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1970.

No seats switched parties, so the party composition of Illinois' House delegation remained 12 Democrats and 12 Republicans.

State elections

Treasurer

1970 Illinois State Treasurer election

←  1966 November 3, 1970 1974  →
Turnout	65.15% [1]
Nominee Alan J. Dixon Edmund J. Kucharski Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,772,209 1,683,437 Percentage 50.96% 48.41%
County results Dixon:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Kucharski:     50–60%     60–70%
Treasurer before election Adlai Stevenson III Democratic Elected Treasurer Alan J. Dixon Democratic

Incumbent Treasurer Adlai Stevenson III, a Democrat, did not seek a second term, instead opting to run for United States Senate. Democrat Alan J. Dixon was elected to succeed him in office.

Since Adlai Stevenson III assumed his U.S. Senate office November 17, due to the nature of it being a special election, there was a brief vacancy in the treasurer's office before Dixon would assume office. Therefore, Governor Richard B. Ogilvie appointed Republican Charles W. Woodford to serve as treasurer from November 17 until Dixon took office on January 3.

Democratic primary

Treasurer Democratic primary ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan J. Dixon	584,021	100
	Write-in	Others	5	0.0
Total votes			584,026	100

Republican primary

Treasurer Republican primary ^{[1] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edmund J. Kucharski	564,682	100
	Write-in	Others	2	0.00
Total votes			564,684	100

General election

Treasurer election ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan J. Dixon	1,772,209	50.96
	Republican	Edmund J. Kucharski	1,683,437	48.41
	Socialist Workers	Naomi Allen	13,119	0.38
	Socialist Labor	John H. Brown, Jr.	8,923	0.26
	Write-in	Others	19	0.00
Total votes			3,477,707	100

Superintendent of Public Instruction

1970 Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction election

←  1966 November 3, 1970
Turnout	64.90% [1]
Nominee Michael Bakalis Ray Page Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,957,262 1,483,901 Percentage 56.50% 42.84%
Superintendent before election Ray Page Republican Elected Superintendent Michael Bakalis Democratic

Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Ray Page, a Republican seeking a third term, was defeated by Democrat Michael Bakalis.

Democratic primary

Superintendent of Public Instruction Democratic primary ^{[1] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Bakalis	556,752	100
	Write-in	Others	6	0.0
Total votes			556,758	100

Republican primary

Superintendent of Public Instruction Republican primary ^{[1] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ray Page (incumbent)	561,149	100
	Write-in	Others	17	0.00
Total votes			561,166	100

General election

Superintendent of Public Instruction election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael J. Bakalis	1,957,262	56.50
	Republican	Ray Page (incumbent)	1,483,901	42.84
	Socialist Workers	Emerson Allen	13,931	0.40
	Socialist Labor	George A. LaForest	8,829	0.26
	Write-in	Others	28	0.00
Total votes			3,463,951	100

State Senate

Seats in the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1970. While there was a 29-29 member split in the chamber after the election, Democrats flipped control of the chamber since there was a Democratic lieutenant governor (Paul Simon).

State House of Representatives

Seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1970. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

Trustees of University of Illinois

1970 Trustees of University of Illinois election

←  1968 November 3, 1970 1972  →

Elections were held to elect Trustees of University of Illinois system. This included a regularly-scheduled election of three seats, and a special election to fill a vacancy.

Regular election

The regular to fill three seats saw the election new Democratic members William D. Forsyth Jr., George W. Howard III, and Earl L. Neal. ^{[1] [4]}

Incumbent Republican Earl Edwin Walker (appointed in 1970) was not reelected. ^{[1] [4]} Incumbent Republican W. Clement Stone (appointed in 1969 to replace Harold Pogue following his death in office) lost reelection, running in the regular election instead of the special election to fill Pogue's seat. ^{[1] [4]} Second-term Democratic incumbent Howard W. Clement was not renominated. Also not renominated was Democrat Theodore A. Jones (who had been appointed in 1963, and thereafter reelected in 1964) ^{[1] [4]}

Trustees of the University of Illinois election ^{[1] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	William D.Forsyth, Jr.	1,847,018	18.52
	Democratic	Earl L. Neal	1,799,712	18.05
	Democratic	George W. Howard, III	1,718,008	17.23
	Republican	W. Clement Stone (incumbent**)	1,550,038	15.54
	Republican	William George Karnes	1,495,900	15.00
	Republican	Earl Edwin Walker (incumbent)	1,470,326	14.75
	Socialist Workers	Nancy Jean Cole	20,846	0.21
	Socialist Workers	Deborah J. Notkin	16,266	0.16
	Socialist Labor	Elizabeth Schnur	15,217	0.15
	Socialist Workers	Mark Ugolini	14,024	0.14
	Socialist Labor	Stanley L. Prorok	13,769	0.14
	Socialist Labor	Clarys L. Essex	9,978	0.10
Total votes			9,971,102	100

Special election

Democrat Roger B. Pogue defeated Republican educator and Illinois State Representative Frances L. Dawson in the special election to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term. Despite losing in the popular vote, Dawson placed first in 64 counties, while Pogue placed first in 38. ^[1]

Incumbent Republican W. Clement Stone (appointed in 1969 to replace Harold Pogue, whose seat this had been, after his death in office), did not run in this election, instead running in the regular election for a full term. ^{[1] [4]}

Turnout for the special election was 60.87%. ^[1]

Trustees of the University of Illinois special election ^{[1] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roger B. Pogue	1,670,201	51.41
	Republican	Frances L. Dawson	1,578,787	48.59
	Write-in	Others	3	0.00
Total votes			3,248,991	100

Judicial elections

Multiple judicial positions were up for election in 1970. ^[1]

Ballot measures (November 3)

Three ballot measures (two legislatively referred constitutional amendments and one bond measure) were on the ballot on November 3. The two legislatively referred constitutional amendments proposed amendments to the existing 1870 Constitution of Illinois. In order to be placed on the ballot, legislatively referred constitutional amendments needed to be approved by two-thirds of each house of the Illinois General Assembly. ^[5] In order to be approved, they required votes equal to a majority of those who voted in the 1970 elections, or two thirds of those voting specifically on the measure.

Illinois Ad Valorem Tax Prohibition Amendment

The Ad Valorem Tax Prohibition Amendment, also known as "Amendment 1", prohibited the taxation of personal property by valuation. ^[6]

Illinois Ad Valorem Tax Prohibition Amendment [6] [1]
Option	Votes	% of votes on measure	% of all ballots cast
Yes	2,925,058	87.70	78.40%
No	410,333	12.30	11.00
Total votes	3,335,391	100	89.40
Voter turnout	62.49%

Illinois Anti-Pollution Amendment

The Illinois Anti-Pollution Amendment, also known as "Amendment 2", approved the Anti-pollution Bond Act. ^[7]

Bond measures needed a vote equal to majority of the votes cast for whichever chamber of the Illinois General Assembly had the highest cumulative vote count.

Illinois Anti-Pollution Amendment [7] [1]
Option	Votes	% of highest legislative vote cast
Yes	2,291,718
No	544,116
Total votes	2,835,834
Voter turnout	53.13%

Illinois Banking Act Amendment

The Illinois Banking Act Amendment, also known as "Amendment 3", enabled state chartered banks to have the same powers as national banks. ^[8]

Illinois Banking Act Amendment [8] [1]
Option	Votes	% of votes on measure	% of all ballots cast
Yes	2,925,058	87.70	78.40
No	410,333	12.30	11.00
Total votes	3,335,391	100	78.40
Voter turnout	62.49%

Ballot measures (December 15)

A December 15 special election was held in which the proposed 1970 Constitution of Illinois itself was up for election, as were several constitutional convention referral items. The constitutional convention referral items would only take effect if the new constitution itself was approved.

The constitution and all amendments to amend it were required to be approved by at least half of all those casting ballots in the election. ^[1]

2,017,717 people cast ballots. ^[1]

Constitution Ratification Question

Constitution Ratification Question, 1970

Concerns the Ratification of the 1970 Illinois Constitution
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 1,122,425 57.25% No 838,168 42.75% Valid votes 1,960,593 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,960,593 100.00%
Yes   70–80%   60–70%   50–60% No   80–90%   70–80%   60–70%   50–60%

Illinois voters voted on whether or not the state would adopt the Illinois Constitution of 1970. ^{[1] [2]}

Illinois Constitution Ratification Question [2] [9]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Yes	1,122,425	55.63
No	838,168	41.54
Total votes	1,960,593	97.17

Appoint All Judges Amendment

The Appoint All Judges Amendment was a ballot question which asked voters whether judges should be appointed by the governor from a list of nominees or elected by the people. ^[10]

If voters had voted for appointment, Illinois' constitution would have contained an article outlining a Missouri Plan-syle "merit selection" system in which the governor would nominate judicial appointees that had first been recommended by judicial nominating commission. The Illinois Bar Association had endorsed a vote for appointed judges. However, the state's voters instead opted to retain direct election of judges. ^[11] As a result, Illinois retained the system of judicial election that had been outlined in the previous constitution after the adoption of the 1962 Illinois Judicial Amendment ^{[11] [12]}

Appoint All Judges Amendment [1] [2]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Elect	1,013,559	50.23
Appoint	867,230	42.98
Total votes	1,880,789	93.21

Death Penalty Amendment

The Death Penalty Amendment proposed abolishing the death penalty in Illinois. ^[13] It was defeated. ^[13]

Death Penalty Amendment [1] [2] [13]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Yes	676,302	33.52
No	1,218,791	60.41
Total votes	1,895,093	93.92

State Representation Amendment

The Illinois State Representation Amendment (also known as the "Elect Legislature Question") was a ballot question which asked voters whether they wished to retain multi-member districts in the state legislature of switch to single-member districts. ^[10]

State Representation Amendment [1] [2] [10]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Multi-Member	1,031,241	51.11
Single-Member	749,909	37.17
Total votes	1,781,150	88.28

Voting Age Amendment

The Voting Age Amendment proposed lowering the age of suffrage to 18. ^[14] It was defeated. ^[14]

Voting Age Amendment [1] [2]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Yes	869,816	43.11
No	1,052,924	52.18
Total votes	1,922,740	95.29

Local elections

Local elections were held.

References

1. "OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 3, 1970 JUDICIAL • MEMBERS OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION PRIMARY AND GENERAL • PROPOSED 1970 CONSTITUTION • SPECIAL ELECTIONS • PRIMARY ELECTION GENERAL PRIMARY, MARCH, 17, 1970" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 22, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
2. Kopecky, Frank; Harris, Mary Sherman. Understanding the Illinois Constitution 2001 Edition (PDF). Illinois State Bar Association. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 28, 2008.
3. Illinois Blue Book 1969-1970. Illinois Secretary of State. p. 854.
4. "Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
5. Illinois Constitution of 1870 ARTICLE XIV Section 2
6. "Illinois Ad Valorem Tax Prohibition Amendment (1970)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
7. "Illinois Anti-Pollution Amendment (1970)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
8. "Illinois Banking Act Amendment (1970)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
9. "Illinois Constitution Ratification Question (December 1970)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
10. "Illinois State Representation Amendment (December 1970)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
11. "Illinois Supreme Court History: Illinois's Elected Judiciary". Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. October 27, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
12. Rolewick, David F. "A Short History of the Illinois Judicial Systems" (PDF). Illinois State Bar Association. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
13. "Illinois Death Penalty Amendment (December 1970)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
14. "Illinois Voting Age Amendment (December 1970)". Ballotpedia.