| Flag Image: | File:Flag of Cook County, Illinois (1961–2022).svg |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1994 Cook County, Illinois, elections |
| Previous Year: | 1994 |
| Next Election: | 1998 Cook County, Illinois, elections |
| Next Year: | 1998 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Turnout: | 64.37% |
The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 5, 1996.[1]
Primaries were held March 19, 1996.[2]
Elections were held for Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recorder of Deeds, State's Attorney, three seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County.
1996 was a presidential election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for federal races (President, House, and Senate) and those for state elections.
Turnout in the primaries was 30.39%, with 776,069 ballots cast.[3] Chicago saw 35.02% turnout and suburban Cook County saw 25.46% turnout.[4]
| Primary | Chicago vote totals | Suburban Cook County vote totals | Total Cook County vote totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 420,288 | 144,103 | 564,391 | ||
| 39,967 | 159,378 | 199,345 | ||
| 426 | 72 | 498 | ||
| Harold Washington Party/Democratic | 5,108 | 559 | 5,667 | |
| Harold Washington Party/Republican | 224 | 44 | 268 | |
| 267 | 318 | 585 | ||
| Nonpartisan | 17 | 5,298 | 5,315 | |
| Total | 466,297 | 309,772 | 776,069 |
The general election saw turnout of 64.37%, with 1,774,961 ballots cast.[5] Chicago saw 63.17% turnout (with 902,514 ballots cast), and suburban Cook County saw 65.66% turnout (with 872,447 ballots cast).[1] [5] [4]
Ballots had a straight-ticket voting option in 1996.[1] This would be the last Cook County election with straight-ticket voting, as it would be abolished in Illinois in 1997.[6]
| Party | Number of straight-ticket votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | style=text-align:center | 511,115 | |
| Republican | style=text-align:center | 204,349 | |
| Harold Washington | style=text-align:center | 2,062 | |
| Libertarian | style=text-align:center | 1,992 | |
| Reform | style=text-align:center | 8,881 | |
| U.S. Taxpayers' | style=text-align:center | 234 | |
| Justice | style=text-align:center | 952 |
| Election Name: | 1996 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1992 Cook County, Illinois elections#Clerk of the Circuit Court |
| Previous Year: | 1992 |
| Next Election: | 2000 Cook County, Illinois elections#Clerk of the Circuit Court |
| Next Year: | 2000 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Candidate1: | Aurelia Pucinski |
| Image1: | AureliaPucinski1967 (3x4a).png |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,149,216 |
| Percentage1: | 70.37% |
| Candidate2: | Sandra M. Stavropoulos |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 397,191 |
| Percentage2: | 24.32% |
| Clerk | |
| Before Election: | Aurelia Pucinski |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Aurelia Pucinski |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Turnout: | 59.55% |
In the 1996 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election, incumbent second-term clerk Aurelia Pucinski, a Democrat, was reelected.
| Election Name: | 1996 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1992 Cook County, Illinois elections#Recorder of Deeds |
| Previous Year: | 1992 |
| Next Election: | 2000 Cook County, Illinois elections#Recorder of Deeds |
| Next Year: | 2000 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Candidate1: | Jesse White |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,061,436 |
| Percentage1: | 65.33% |
| Candidate2: | Patrick A. Dwyer |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 499,551 |
| Percentage2: | 30.75% |
| Recorder of Deeds | |
| Before Election: | Jesse White |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Jesse White |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Turnout: | 58.92% |
In the 1996 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election, incumbent first-term recorder of deeds Jesse White, a Democrat, was reelected.
| Election Name: | 1996 Cook County State's Attorney election |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1992 Cook County, Illinois elections#State's Attorney |
| Previous Year: | 1992 |
| Next Election: | 2000 Cook County, Illinois elections#State's Attorney |
| Next Year: | 2000 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Candidate1: | Richard A. Devine |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 805,659 |
| Percentage1: | 47.88% |
| Candidate2: | Jack O'Malley |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 694,306 |
| Percentage2: | 41.26% |
| Candidate3: | R. Eugene Pincham |
| Party3: | Justice |
| Popular Vote3: | 156,695 |
| Percentage3: | 9.31% |
| State's Attorney | |
| Before Election: | Jack O'Malley |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Richard A. Devine |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Turnout: | 61.95% |
In the 1996 Cook County State's Attorney election, incumbent state's attorney Jack O'Malley, a Republican first elected in a special election in 1990 and subsequently reelected in 1992, was defeated by Democrat Richard A. Devine.
Few had seen Devine as having much prospect of unseating O'Malley, a popular incumbent who was regarded as a rising political star. Devine's strong victory over O'Malley was regarded as a very surprising upset.[7]
Devine was regarded as having ridden the coattails of a Democratic wave in Illinois which saw incumbent president Bill Clinton and his vice president Al Gore carry the state by nearly twenty-points in the presidential election and Illinois also elect Dick Durbin in its U.S. Senate election.[7]
Even Devine himself expressed surprise at just how large his margin-of-victory was over O'Malley.[7]
| Election Name: | 1996 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1994 Cook County, Illinois elections#Water Reclamation District Board |
| Previous Year: | 1994 |
| Next Election: | 1998 Cook County, Illinois elections#Water Reclamation District Board |
| Next Year: | 1998 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Seats For Election: | 3 of 9 seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Map Size: | 300px |
In the 1996 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, three of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board were up for election in an at-large election.[1] All three Democratic nominees won election.[1]
Pasrtisan elections were held for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County due to vacancies.[1] Retention elections were also held for the Circuit Court.[1]
Partisan elections were also held for subcircuit courts judgeships due to vacancies.[1] Retention elections were held for other judgeships.[1]
Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic, Republican, and Harold Washington Party committeemen for the wards of Chicago.[2]