Cook County Clerk Explained

Post:Cook County Clerk
Insigniasize:150px
Incumbent:Vacant
Incumbentsince:April 7, 2024
Termlength:4 years
Formation:March 1831 (appointed position)
August 1837 (elected position)

The Cook County Clerk is the clerk of county government in Cook County, Illinois.

History

The office of Cook County Clerk was established as an elected office with a four-year term in August 1837. Prior to this, from 1831 to 1837, the Clerk was appointed by the three Cook County Commissioners.

Officeholders, 1837 - present

ClerkTerm in officePartyNotesCite
1stGeorge Davis1837 - 1849First elected Cook County Clerk[1]
2ndEdmund S. Kimberly1849 - 1853
3rdCharles B. Farwell1853 - 1861
4thLaurin P. Hilliard1861 - 1865
5thEdward S. Salomon1865–November 1869Republican[2] [3]
6thJohn G. Gindele1869 - January 1872Died in office
7thGeorge W. Wheeler1873 - December 1873
8thHermann Lieb1873 - December 1877
9thErnest F.C. Klokke1877 - December 1882Term extended, by law, for one year
10thMichael W. Ryan1882 - December 1886
11thHenry Wulff1886 - 1894Republican
12thPhilip Knopf1894 - 1902Republican
13thPeter B. Olsen1902 - 1906Republican
14thJoseph F. Haas1906 - 1910Republican[4]
15thRobert SweitzerDecember 1910–December 1934DemocraticElected in 1910, 1914, 1918, 1922, 1926, 1930, 1934; resigned to serve as Cook County Treasurer in December 1934
16thMichael J. Flynn1935–1950DemocraticAppointed in 1935; elected in 1938, 1942, 1946
17thRichard J. DaleyDecember 1950 – 1955DemocraticElected in 1950 and 1954; resigned in 1955 to serve as mayor of Chicago
18thEdward J. Barrett1955–1973DemocraticAppointed in 1955; elected in 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970; resigned in 1973
19thStanley Kusper1973–December 1990DemocraticAppointed in 1973, elected in 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986[5]
20thDavid OrrDecember 1990–December 2018DemocraticElected in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
21stKaren YarbroughDecember 2018–April 2024DemocraticElected in 2018 and 2022; died in office in April 2024[6]
–Cedric Giles
(acting)		2024–presentActing clerk

Recent election results

|-| colspan=16 style="text-align:center;" |Cook County Clerk general elections|-!Year!Winning candidate!Party!Vote (pct)!Opponent!Party! Vote (pct)!Opponent!Party! Vote (pct)!Opponent!Party! Vote (pct)|-|1986[7] | | Stanley Kusper| | Democratic| | 929,949 (68.35%)| | Diana Nelson| | Republican| | 430,568 (31.35%)| | | | | | |-|1990[8] | | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | 799,884 (63.48%)| | Sam Panayotovich| | Republican| | 353,531 (28.06%)|Text style="background:#D2B48C | Heldia R. Richardson|Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party|Text style="background:#D2B48C | 106,588 (8.46%)| | | |-|1994| | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | | | Edward Howlett| | Republican| | |Text style="background:#D2B48C | Herman W. Baker, Jr.|Text style="background:#D2B48C | Harold Washington Party|Text style="background:#D2B48C | | Curtis Jones| Populist| |-|1998[9] | | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | 988,136 (77.30%)| | Judie A. Jones| | Republican| | 290,256 (22.70%)| | | | | | |-|2002[10] [11] | | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | 992,441 (76.11%)| | Kathleen A. Thomas| | Republican| | 311,552 (23.89%)| | | | | | |-|2006[12] | | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | 1,034,263 (80.78%)| | Nancy Carlson| | Republican| | 246,044 (19.22%)| | | | | | |-|2010[13] | | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | 1,047,462 (77.77%)| | Angel Garcia| | Republican| | 299,449 (22.23%)| | || | | |-|2014[14] | | David D. Orr| | Democratic| | 1,061,515 (100%)| | | | | | | | | |-|2018[15] | | Karen Yarbrough| | Democratic| | 1,415,244 (99.07%)| Others| Write-ins| 13,120 (0.93%)| | | | | | |-|2022[16] | |Karen Yarbrough| | Democratic| |1,003,854 (71.58%)| | Tony Peraica| | Republican| |368,095 (26.26%)| | Joseph Schreiner| | Libertarian| |30,514 (2.18%)| | |

Notes and References

  1. Book: . 1886 . History of Chicago: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time . Chicago . A.T. Andreas .
  2. Book: Andreas . Alfred Theodore . From 1857 until the fire of 1871 . 1885 . A. T. Andreas . 235 . 26 December 2020 . en.
  3. Benjaminson . Eric . A Regiment of Immigrants: The 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry and the Letters of Captain Rudolph Mueller . Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society . 2001 . 94 . 2 . 137–180 . 40193360 . 26 December 2020 . 1522-1067.
  4. Book: Chicago Daily News National Almanac for 1910 . 1909 . Chicago Daily News . 459 . 11 November 2020 . en.
  5. Web site: Hardy . Thomas . STANLEY KUSPER HAS FEW REGRETS ABOUT PATH HIS CAREER HAS TAKEN . chicagotribune.com . Chicago Tribune . 21 November 2020 . 26 February 1990.
  6. News: Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough dies at 73. Sean. Lewis. Andrew. Smith. WGN 9. April 7, 2024. April 7, 2024.
  7. Web site: OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS GENERAL ELECTION COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1986 . voterinfo.net . https://web.archive.org/web/20081003205005/http://www.voterinfonet.com/results/archive/1986NovCombinedSummary.pdf . 3 October 2008.
  8. Web site: OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS GENERAL ELECTION COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1990 . voterinfo.net . https://web.archive.org/web/20081003205145/http://www.voterinfonet.com/results/archive/1990NovCombinedSummary.pdf . 3 October 2008.
  9. Web site: OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS GENERAL ELECTION COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1998 . results.cookcountyclerkil.gov .
  10. Web site: TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE RETURNS AND PROCLAMATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN EACH OF THE PRECINCTS IN ALL THE WARDS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2002 A.D. . Chicago Board of Election Commissioners . 18 June 2020.
  11. Web site: SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY RESULTS . voterinfonet.com . Cook County Clerk . https://web.archive.org/web/20050209124209/http://www.voterinfonet.com/results/11502results/ . 9 February 2005 . dead.
  12. Web site: Cook County and the City of Chicago Combined Summary Report November 2006 General Election Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 . Cook County Clerk's Office . 16 March 2020 . September 22, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210922154748/https://www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/sites/default/files/2006NovemberCombinedSUMMARY.pdf . dead .
  13. Web site: Cook County General Election November 2, 2010 Combined Summary Report . Cook County Clerk's Office . 16 March 2020.
  14. Web site: General Election Cook County and The City of Chicago Tuesday, November 4, 2014 Combined Summary . Cook County Clerk's Office . 16 March 2020 . January 28, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220128082518/https://www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/sites/default/files/CombinedSummaryReport110414%20(1).pdf . dead .
  15. Web site: Cook County and The City of Chicago General Election November 6, 2018 Combined Summary . March 9, 2020 . Cook County Clerk's Office . July 8, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210708233020/https://www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/sites/default/files/CombinedSummary.pdf . dead .
  16. Web site: Tabulated Statement of the Returns and Proclamation of the Results of the Canvass of the Election Returns for the November 8, 2022 Gubernatorial General Election Held in Each of the Precincts in Cook County, Illinois Including the City of Chicago . www.cookcountyclerkil.gov . Cook County Clerk . 6 December 2022 . 2022.

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