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The 1982 Illinois gubernatorial election was held in Illinois on November 2, 1982. Incumbent Republican governor James R. Thompson won a third term in office, defeating the Democratic nominee, former United States Senator Adlai Stevenson III, by a slim margin of about 5,000 votes.
The election coincided with those for Congress and those for other state offices. The election was part of the 1982 Illinois elections.
Turnout in the primaries saw 22.42% in the gubernatorial primaries, with a total of 1,337,581 votes cast, and 20.25% in the lieutenant gubernatorial primary, with 1,208,178 votes cast. [1] [2]
Turnout during the general election was 61.58%, with 3,673,707 votes cast. [1] [3]
Adlai Stevenson III, former United States Senator as well as the son of former Governor (1949-1953) & 1952+1956 Democratic Nominee Adlai Stevenson II and great-grandson of former Vice-President Adlai Stevenson I (1893-1897), won the primary for the gubernatorial nomination unopposed.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Adlai E. Stevenson | 731,041 | 99.99 | |
| Write-in | Others | 94 | 0.01 | |
| Total votes | 731,135 | 100 | ||
Grace Mary Stern won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor unopposed.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Grace Mary Stern | 588,942 | 99.98 | |
| Write-in | Others | 103 | 0.02 | |
| Total votes | 589,045 | 100 | ||
Incumbent James R. Thompson defeated challengers John E. Roche and V. A. Kelley.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | James R. Thompson (incumbent) | 507,893 | 83.75 | |
| Republican | John E. Roche | 54,858 | 9.05 | |
| Republican | V. A. Kelley | 43,627 | 7.19 | |
| Write-in | Others | 68 | 0.01 | |
| Total votes | 606,446 | 100 | ||
George Ryan defeated Susan Catania and Donald L. Totten in the lieutenant gubernatorial primary.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | George Ryan | 278,544 | 44.99 | |
| Republican | Susan Catania | 188,220 | 30.40 | |
| Republican | Donald L. Totten | 152,356 | 24.61 | |
| Write-in | Others | 13 | 0.00 | |
| Total votes | 619,133 | 100 | ||
Stevenson complained that Thompson was trying to portray him as an ineffectual elitist by famously stating, "He is saying 'Me tough guy,' as if to imply that I’m some kind of wimp." [4] Before the election, Thompson had been favored by polls and predictions to win by roughly twenty percentage points. [5]
The nominees of the third-party Libertarian and Taxpayers tickets were both right-of-center, and were therefore regarded as more likely to siphon off more potential supporters from Thompson than from Stevenson. [6]
Thompson won by a narrow 5,074 vote margin. Thompson carried 83 of Illinois' 102 counties, while Stevenson carried on 19. However, Stevenson won Cook County, home of Chicago. [1] Cook County accounted for a substantial share of the state's population. Thompson had actually carried the vote of suburban Cook County. However, Stevenson had managed to win the city of Chicago by a margin of nearly 4 to 1. [6] [7] Thompson's narrow victory was likely attributable, in part, to his strong performance in the collar counties (the five counties that border Cook County; DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will).
The 1982 Democratic ticket performed better than the Democratic ticket had in the previous 1978 gubernatorial election. [7] In the cumulative vote of Cook County and the five collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will), the 1982 Democratic Ticket performed 10% better than the 1978 ticket had. [7] At the time, the downstate Illinois vote was seen as very important to determining victory in Illinois statewide elections. The 1982 Democratic ticket performed better than the 1978 had in downstate Illinois. However, despite the Republican ticket performing weaker in downstate Illinois than it had in the 1978 election, the Republican ticket still managed to win downstate Illinois by a 136,917 vote margin, which was a key factor in securing their victory. [7]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | James R. Thompson (incumbent)/ George H. Ryan | 1,816,101 | 49.44 | ||
| Democratic | Adlai Stevenson III/ Grace Mary Stern | 1,811,027 | 49.30 | ||
| Libertarian | Bea Armstrong/ David L. Kelley | 24,417 | 0.66 | ||
| Taxpayers | John E. Roche/ Melvin "Mel" Jones | 22,001 | 0.60 | ||
| N/A | write-ins | 161 | 0.00 | n-a | |
| Majority | 5,074 | 0.14 | |||
| Turnout | 3,673,707 | 61.58 | |||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
3,673,707 (61.58%) of the state's 5,965,514 registered voters voted in the gubernatorial election. This percentage of registered voters participating in the 1982 gubernatorial election marked a 7.35% increase from that of the preceding 1978 gubernatorial election. [3] [1] [8]
183,311 of the 3,856,875 individuals that cast ballots in the state's 1982 general election did not vote in the gubernatorial race. [6] [3] This number of "blank votes" in the gubernatorial election was equal to 4.75% of the voters who participated in the state general election, [3] and 3.07% of the state's registered voters. [1] 2,108,639 (35.35%) of the state's registered voters did not cast valid ballots in the state's general election. [1] The combined total of the registered voters who cast no valid ballot and the registered voters who cast ballots with "blank votes" in the gubernatorial election meant that 2,291,950 (38.42%) of the registered voters did not vote in the gubernatorial election. [3] [1]
The following table breaks down the results into three categories, providing a comparative breakdown between the results in Chicago, the results in suburban Cook County, the results in the five collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will), and the results the results of the remainder of Illinois ("downstate Illinois").
| Region | Thompson vote | Stevenson vote | Margin | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 259,963 (26%) | 728,580 (74%) | 446,617 Stevenson | Thompson carried 2 wards while Stevenson carried 48 |
| Suburban Cook County | 436,095 (61%) | 279,000 (39%) | 157,095 Thompson | Thompson carried 28 townships while Stevenson carried 2 |
| Collar counties | 341,971 (68%) | 162,292 (32%) | 179,679 (34.97%) Thompson | Thompson carried 5 counties, while Sevenson carried 0 |
| Downstate Illinois (96 counties) | 778,072 (54.15%) | 641,115 (44.62%) | 136,917 (9.53%) Thompson | Thompson carried 78 counties while Stevenson carried 18 |
The following table breaks down the results into two categories, providing a comparative breakdown between the cumulative results of Cook County and the five collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will) with the results of the remainder of Illinois ("downstate Illinois"). Thompson performed stronger in downstate Illinois than he did in the cumaltive vote of Cook County and the collar counties, while Stevenson inversely performed stronger in the cumulative vote of Cook County and the collar counties than he did in downstate Illinois.
As this table indicates, Cook County and the collar counties cumulatively were the location of 60.91% of the statewide vote, with downstate Illinois being the location of only 39.09% of the statewide vote.
| Region | Thompson vote | Stevenson vote | Armstrong vote | Roche vote | Write-in vote | Total vote | % of overall state vote | Margin | Counties carried by candidate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook County and collar counties | 1,038,029 (46.39%) | 1,169,872 (52.28%) | 15,758 (0.70%) | 14,036 (0.63%) | 128 (0.00%) | 2,237,823 | 60.91% | 109,843 (4.91%) Stevenson | Thompson: 5 Stevenson: 1 |
| Downstate Illinois (96 counties) | 778,072 (54.19%) | 641,115 (44.65%) | 8,659 (0.60%) | 7,965 (0.55%) | 33 (0.00%) | 1,435,884 | 39.09% | 136,917 (9.54%) Thompson | Thompson: 78 Stevenson: 18 |
The following table gives a comparative breakdown of the results in the Chicago metropolitan area counties, breaking these results into three categories: the result within the municipal limits of Chicago, the results in the remainder of Cook County ("suburban Cook County"), and the cumulative results of the five collar counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will.
| Region | Thompson vote | Stevenson vote | Margin | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 259,963 (26%) | 728,580 (74%) | 446,617 Stevenson | Thompson carried 2 wards while Stevenson carried 48 |
| Suburban Cook County | 436,095 (61%) | 279,000 (39%) | 157,095 Thompson | Thompson carried 28 townships while Stevenson carried 2 |
| Collar counties | 341,971 (68%) | 162,292 (32%) | 179,679 (34.97%) Thompson | Thompson carried 5 counties, while Sevenson carried 0 |
| Total | 1,038,029 (46.41%) | 1,169,872 (52.30%) | 109,843 (4.91%) Stevenson |
The following table gives a comparative breakdown of the results Chicago metropolitan area counties, contrasting the result within the municipal limits of Chicago with the outlying vote in the outlying area of its metropolitan area counties (Cook County and the five collar counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will).
Cook County and the five collar counties saw a cumulative total of 2,237,823 votes cast between them, equivalent to 60.89% of the statewide total. [3]
This table demonstrates that, while Stevenson had carried the cumulative vote of Cook County and the collar counties, he had only done so due to his landslide performance (74%) in Chicago. The table demonstrates that Thompson won a landslide in cumulative vote of suburban Cook County and the collar counties (64%), performing even strong there than his 55% performance in downstate Illinois. [7]
| Region | Thompson vote | Stevenson vote | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 259,963 (26%) | 728,580 (74%) | 446,617 (45.18%) Stevenson |
| Suburban Cook County and collar counties | 778,066 (64%) | 441,292 (36%) | 336,774 (27.62%) Thompson |
| Total | 1,038,029 (46.41%) | 1,169,872 (52.30%) | 109,843 (4.91%) Stevenson |
The following table gives a comparative breakdown of the results in each of the five collar counties. The cumulative vote of the collar counties (513,825 votes) was equivalent to 13.99% of the statewide vote.
| County | Thompson vote | Stevenson vote | Armstrong vote | Roche vote | Write-in vote | Total vote | % of overall state vote | Thompson's margin over Stevenson |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DuPage | 138,502 (71.44%) | 51,543 (25.59%) | 1,974 (1.02%) | 1,824 (0.94%) | 20 (0.01%) | 193,863 | 5.28% | 86,959 (44.86%) |
| Kane | 48,513 (67.36%) | 22,132 (30.73%) | 744 (1.03%) | 612 (0.85%) | 17 (0.02%) | 72,018 | 1.96% | 26,381 (36.63%) |
| Lake | 72,420 (62.93%) | 40,757 (35.42%) | 1,090 (0.95%) | 803 (0.70%) | 4 (0.00%) | 115,074 | 3.13% | 31,663 (27.52%) |
| McHenry | 29,343 (72.74%) | 10,181 (25.24%) | 442 (1.10%) | 374 (0.93%) | 2 (0.00%) | 40,342 | 1.10% | 19,162 (47.50%) |
| Will | 53,193 (57.49%) | 37,679 (40.72%) | 668 (0.72%) | 983 (1.06%) | 5 (0.00%) | 92,528 | 2.52% | 15,514 (15.77%) |
| Total | 341,971 (66.55%) | 162,292 (31.59%) | 4,918 (0.96%) | 4,596 (0.89%) | 48 (0.00%) | 513,825 | 13.99% | 179,679 (34.97%) |
The following table gives a comparative breakdown of the results in Cook County, contrasting the votes cast in the municipal limits of Chicago with the votes cast in the remainder of Cook County ("suburban Cook County").
Cook County saw a total of 1,723,998 votes cast, equivalent to 46.93% of all votes cast in the election. [3]
This table demonstrates that, while Stevenson won a 58.48% of the vote in Cook County, with a margin of 18.07% over Thompson, this was solely attributable to Stevenson's 44.75% margin over Thompson in Chicago, as Thompson actually carried the remainder of Cook County by a 21.97% margin over Stevenson.
| Region | Thompson vote | Stevenson vote | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 259,963 (26%) | 728,580 (74%) | 446,617 (44.75%) Stevenson |
| Suburban Cook County | 436,095 (61%) | 279,000 (39%) | 157,095 (21.97%) Thompson |
| Total | 696,058 (40.37%)) | 1,007,580 (58.44%) | 311,522 (18.07%) Stevenson |
40.23% of Stevenson's votes came from Chicago. 15.41% of Stevenson's votes came from suburban Cook County. 8.96% of Stevenson's votes came from the collar counties. 35.40% of Stevenson's votes came from downstate Illinois. [3]
14.31% of Thompson's votes came from Chicago. 24.01% of Thompson's votes came from suburban Cook County. 18.83% of Thompson's votes came from the collar counties. 42.84% of Thompson's votes came from downstate Illinois. [3]
The final canvass conducted by election officials was conducted on November 22, 1982. [6] The Illinois State Board of Elections certified the result on January 23, 1982. [9]
For the first time since its passage in 1977, Illinois' law outlining election recounts was invoked. [6] The law enabled candidates to request partial recounts of the votes in up to 25% of the state's more than 7,000 election precincts, with candidates being able to hand-pick the precincts to be recounted. [6] Stevenson opted for a recount of precincts in 70 of the state's 102 counties. The counties chosen where ones where Thompson had received a strong share of the vote. [6] Thompson also opted to invoke his right to a partial recount, and chose to have a recount of precincts in 32 of Chicago's 50 wards. The wards in question were ones where Stevenson had received a strong share of the vote. [6]
On December 7, 1982 Stevenson and Stern filed a petition with the Illinois Supreme Court requesting a recount. [9] Stevenson and Stern's petition argued that the election had been impacted by "widespread irregularities and error". [10] Thompson and Ryan filed their objections to this on December 10, 1982. [9] Under the state's 1977 election recount law, if a complete statewide recount had been ordered, the recount would have been supervised by a three-member panel of Illinois Circuit Court judges. Under the law, the Illinois Supreme Court would have selected the three judges to serve on the panel. [6]
At the time of the case, four of the Illinois Supreme Court's seven justices were Democrats. [10] Oral arguments were heard by the court on December 21, 1982. [9] Stevenson put forth an argument that, based on the evidence gathered in the partial recount of 500,000 votes in 70 of the state's 102 counties, that he believed a full statewide recount would find him to have won the election by an approximately 11,000-vote margin. [10] Stevenson claimed that the partial recount in the precincts he had selected had found enough invalid ballots to decrease Thompson's margin-of-victory from 5,074 to merely 325 votes. [6] However, Thompson's legal counsel characterized a recount as unwarranted, and also challenged the figures Stevenson alleged that the recount of his selected counties had indicated. Thompson argued that many of the ballots which Stevenson had characterized as illegitimate had been so-characterized due to "defacing" that was actually the result of markings from electronic tabulating machines. [6] Thompson's legal counsel argued that Stevenson did not provide the level of evidence required by the state's 1977 election recount law (a law which had, up until then, never been tested). [10]
On January 7, 1983, the court issued a 4–3 decision, with a majority opinion authored by Chief Justice Howard C. Ryan, rejecting Stevenson's petition for a recount. [9] [6] The majority opinion of the court found insufficient evidence of either mistakes, fraud, or irregularities to warrant a recount. [10] Furthermore, in their decision, the court found the state's 1977 law outlining rules for statewide election recounts to be unconstitutional, finding that, in passing the law, the Illinois Legislature unconstitutionally established what was effectively a new court due to the provision having a three-member panel of Illinois Circuit Court judges oversee statewide recounts. [10] [6] The opinion cited the 1975 state decision Rice v. Cunningham in finding that, "the General Assembly did not have the authority to provide that a case be heard by a three judge panel," and that, "the 1970 Constitution confers no authority in the legislature to create new courts". [11] The court's axing of the 1977 election law had been unprompted by either party in the case. [10] The majority opinion was supported by Republican justices Howard C. Ryan, Thomas Moran, Robert C. Underwood, and Democratic justice Seymour Simon. Dissenting were Democratic justices William G. Clark, Joseph Goldenhersh, and Daniel P. Ward. [11]
The court's opinion was issued merely three days before the scheduled inauguration of the gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial terms. [6] Hours after the court's decision, Stevenson conceded defeat, [6] and declared that he would not challenge the court's decision. [12]
In January 1983, when the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the petition by Stevenson for a full statewide recount, the majority decision had opined that there was insufficient evidence of either mistakes, fraud, or irregularities that to justify a recount. [10] However, in December 1984, a special grand jury issued 62 indictments (ultimately result in 58 convictions), many involving precinct captains and election officials, for election fraud related to the 1982 Illinois elections. [13] [14] The grand jury had judged that, in their opinion, 100,000 fraudulent votes had been cast in Chicago. [13] In its 26-page report, the grand jury alleged that, in one Chicago ward, votes were bought for $2 a vote, and in one precinct captain incentivized voters by distributing drinks. It was alleged that 10% of the votes that had been examined were fraudulently cast. [14] Authorities discovered large fraud involving vote buying and voter impersonation. In one instance, they discovered that a ballot which had been cast for the Democratic Party slate was tabulated 198 times. [13] The case was prosecuted by US Attorney Dan K. Webb. [15] [16]
The gubernatorial election result has been questioned. Some Democrats have alleged that fraud might have committed by Republicans in areas outside Chicago to secure Thompson his victory. [15] [17] In 2016, Rudy Giuliani suggested that the gubernatorial results had been fraudulent on the part of Chicago Democrats. [18]
James Robert Thompson Jr. was an American politician, lobbyist, and federal prosecutor who served as the 37th governor of Illinois from 1977 to 1991. He was Illinois's longest-serving governor, having been elected to four consecutive terms and holding the office for 14 years.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson III was an American attorney and politician of the Democratic Party who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1970 to 1981. A member of the prominent Stevenson family, he also served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Treasurer. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of Illinois in 1982 and 1986. He had been awarded Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasure with gold and silver stars and was an honorary Professor of Renmin University, China.
The 2004 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Michael J. Howlett Sr. was an American politician who served as the 24th Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts and 33rd Illinois Secretary of State. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Illinois in the 1976 Illinois gubernatorial election.
Illinois is a Democratic stronghold in presidential elections and one of the "Big Three" Democratic strongholds alongside California and New York. It is one of the most Democratic states in the nation with all state executive offices and both state legislative branches held by Democrats. For most of its history, Illinois was widely considered to be a swing state, voting for the winner of all but two presidential elections in the 20th century. Political party strength in Illinois is highly dependent upon Cook County, and the state's reputation as a blue state rests upon the fact that over 40% of its population and political power is concentrated in Chicago, Cook County, and the Chicago metropolitan area. Outside of Chicago, the suburban collar counties continue trending Democratic while downstate Illinois can be considered more conservative with several Democratic leaning regions including Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Rockford, Peoria, the Quad Cities, and suburban St. Louis
The 2008 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2000 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose 22 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1986 Illinois gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1986. Republican candidate James R. Thompson won a fourth term in office, defeating the Illinois Solidarity Party nominee, former United States Senator Adlai Stevenson III, by around 400,000 votes.
Collar counties is a colloquialism for DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, the five counties of Illinois that border Cook County, which is home to Chicago. The collar counties are part of the Chicago metropolitan area and comprise many of the area's suburbs. While Lake County, Indiana, also borders Cook County, it is not typically included in the phrase "Collar Counties" due to different socioeconomic characteristics and positionality.
The 2016 United States presidential election in Illinois was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Illinois voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Illinois had 20 votes in the Electoral College.
The 1976 United States presidential election in Illinois was held on November 2, 1976. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose 26 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1960 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose 27 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 74th Illinois General Assembly convened on January 6, 1965, and adjourned sine die on June 30, 1965.
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 6, 1990. Primaries were held on March 20, 1990.
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 4, 1986.
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 2, 1982.
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 7, 1978.
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 6, 1956.
The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 5, 1996.
The U.S. state of Illinois held an election on November 3, 1964, for all 177 members of the state's House of Representatives for the 74th Illinois General Assembly, alongside other state and federal elections. Due to the state's failure to redistrict, all of the seats were elected at-large, with voters choosing up to 177 candidates to support. Each party was only allowed to nominate 118 candidates. All 118 Democratic candidates won, flipping control of the chamber to Democrats with a two-thirds supermajority.
