1992 Illinois elections explained

Election Name:1992 Illinois elections
Country:Illinois
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1990 Illinois elections
Previous Year:1990
Next Election:1994 Illinois elections
Next Year:1994
Election Date:November 3, 1992
Turnout:78.24%

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 3, 1992.

Primary elections were held on March 17.

Election information

Turnout

For the primaries, turnout was 43.68%, with 2,561,882 ballots cast (with 1,663,422 Democratic ballots, 878,438 Republican ballots, and 49,672 nonpartisan ballots cast).[1]

For the general election, turnout was 78.24%, with 5,164,357 ballots cast.[2]

Straight-ticket voting

Illinois had a straight-ticket voting option in 1992.[2]

PartyNumber of
straight-ticket
votes
Democraticstyle=text-align:center805,649
Republicanstyle=text-align:center629,685
Conservativestyle=text-align:center4,748
Economic Recoverystyle=text-align:center9,485
Harold Washingtonstyle=text-align:center32,956
Independent Congressionalstyle=text-align:center9,325
Independent Progressivestyle=text-align:center6
Libertarianstyle=text-align:center1,560
Louannee Petersstyle=text-align:center5,949
Natural Lawstyle=text-align:center423
New Alliance Partystyle=text-align:center1,438
Populiststyle=text-align:center398
Socialist Workersstyle=text-align:center211

Federal elections

United States President

See main article: 1992 United States presidential election in Illinois.

See also: 1992 United States presidential election.

Illinois voted for Democratic ticket of Bill Clinton and Al Gore.[2]

This represented a realigning election for Illinois in regards to presidential politics. This was the first time since 1964 that Illinois voted for the Democratic ticket in a presidential election. This ended a streak of six consecutive elections in which the state had voted for the Republican ticket. It also began a streak that, as of the 2020 election, continues, in which the state has voted for the Democratic ticket in eight consecutive presidential elections.

United States Senate

See main article: 1992 United States Senate election in Illinois.

See also: 1992 United States Senate elections.

Incumbent Democrat Alan J. Dixon was unseated, losing the Democratic primary to Carol Moseley Braun. Braun defeated Republican nominee Richard S. Williamson in the general election, becoming the first female African-American senator in United States history, as well as the first African-American elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat, and the first female senator elected from Illinois.

United States House

See main article: article.

See also: 1992 United States House of Representatives elections.

Illinois had lost two congressional seats in the reapportionment following the 1990 United States Census. All 20 of Illinois’ remaining seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1992.

Before the election, Democrats held fifteen seats from Illinois, while Republicans held seven. In 1992, Democrats won twelve seats while Republicans won eight.

State elections

State Senate

As this was the first election following a redistricting, all of the seats of the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1992. Republicans flipped control of the Illinois Senate.[3]

State House of Representatives

All of the seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1992. Democrats retained control of the Illinois House of Representatives.[3]

Trustees of the University of Illinois

Election Name:1992 Trustees of the University of Illinois election
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1990 University of Illinois trustees election
Previous Year:1990
Next Election:1994 University of Illinois trustees election
Next Year:1994
Election Date:November 3, 1992

An election was held for three of nine seats for Trustees of University of Illinois system for six-year terms.

The election saw the reelection of incumbent Democrat Judith Calder to a second, as well as the election of new trustees, Democrats Jeff Gindorf and Ada Lopez.

Incumbent Republican Dave Downey, who had been appointed in 1991, lost reelection.[2] Third-term incumbent Democrat Nina T. Shepherd was not nominated for reelection.[2]

Judicial elections

Judicial elections were held.[2]

Ballot measures

Illinois voters voted on a two ballot measures in 1992.[4]

Two of the measures were legislatively referred constitutional amendments. In order to be approved, the legislatively referred constitutional amendments required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the amendment or 50% support among all ballots cast in the elections.[4]

Crime Victim Rights Amendment

See main article: Illinois Crime Victim Rights Amendment.

Voters approved the Crime Victim Rights Amendment (also known as "Amendment 1", a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which added Article I, Section 8.1 to the Constitution of Illinois. This guarantees crime victims certain rights, including the right to receive information about cases in which they are involved.[4] [5]

Crime Victim Rights Amendment
OptionVotes% of votes
on measure
% of all ballots
cast
text align=center Yestext align=center 2,964,592text align=center 80.56text align=center 57.40
text align=center Notext align=center 715,602text align=center 19.45text align=center 13.86
text align=center Total votestext align=center 3,680,194text align=center 100text align=center 71.26
Voter turnout colspan=3 text align=right 55.76%

Education Equality Amendment

The Education Equality Amendment (also known as "Amendment 2"), a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which would have amended of Article X, Section 1 of the Constitution of Illinois to mandate for equal opportunity in education, failed to meet either threshold to amend the constitution.[4] [6]

Education Equality Amendment
OptionVotes% of votes
on measure
% of all ballots
cast
text align=center Yestext align=center 1,882,569text align=center 57.05text align=center 36.45
text align=center Notext align=center 1,417,520text align=center 42.95text align=center 27.45
text align=center Total votestext align=center 3,300,089text align=center 100text align=center 63.90
Voter turnout colspan=3 text align=right 50.00%

Advisory referendums

Unfunded Mandates on Local Government referendum

An advisory referendum on unfunded mandates on local government was supported by voters.[2]

Local elections

Local elections were held. These included county elections, such as the Cook County elections.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: State of Illinois official vote cast at the primary election held on ... . Illinois State Board of Elections . 7 April 2020.
  2. Web site: State of Illinois official vote cast at the general election .. . Illinois State Board of Elections . 7 April 2020.
  3. Web site: Party control of Illinois state government . Ballotpedia . 26 March 2020 . en.
  4. Web site: Illinois Constitution - Amendments Proposed . www.ilga.gov . Illinois General Assembly . 26 March 2020.
  5. Web site: Illinois Crime Victim Rights, Amendment 1 (1992) . Ballotpedia . 29 March 2020 . en.
  6. Web site: Illinois Education Equality, Amendment 2 (1992) . Ballotpedia . 29 March 2020 . en.