1992 Illinois elections

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 3, 1992.^[1]

Primary elections were held on March 17.^[2]

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).^[2]

For the general election, turnout was 78.24%, with 5,164,357 ballots cast.^[1]

Straight-ticket voting

Illinois had a straight-ticket voting option in 1992.^[1]

Party	Number of straight-ticket votes^[1]
Democratic	805,649
Republican	629,685
Conservative	4,748
Economic Recovery	9,485
Harold Washington	32,956
Independent Congressional	9,325
Independent Progressive	6
Libertarian	1,560
Louannee Peters	5,949
Natural Law	423
New Alliance Party	1,438
Populist	398
Socialist Workers	211

Federal elections

United States President

Illinois voted for Democratic ticket of Bill Clinton and Al Gore.^[1]

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

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

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

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.^[4]

Incumbent Republican Dave Downey, who had been appointed in 1991, lost reelection.^[1]^[4] Third-term incumbent Democrat Nina T. Shepherd was not nominated for reelection.^[1]^[4]

Trustees of the University of Illinois election^[1]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Judith Calder (incumbent)	2,223,782	17.64
	Democratic	Ada Lopez	2,138,085	16.96
	Democratic	Jeff Gindorf	2,073,361	16.44
	Republican	Dave Downey (incumbent)	1,796,907	14.25
	Republican	Gayl Anne Simonds Pyatt	1,690,434	13.41
	Republican	Craig Burkhardt	1,679,464	13.32
	Libertarian	Katherine M. Kelley	113,393	0.90
	Socialist Workers	Margaret Savage	80,755	0.64
	New Alliance	Sandra Jackson-Opoku	74,680	0.57
	Conservative	Barbara Mary Quirke	71,893	0.60
	New Alliance	Bonita M. Bishop	65,450	0.52
	Conservative	Ann M. Scheidler	65,275	0.52
	Conservative	Hiram Crawford, Jr.	60,311	0.48
	Natural Law	Judy Langston	59,823	0.48
	Socialist Workers	Patricia Smith Chiloane	58,404	0.46
	New Alliance	Stephen J. Jackson	54,008	0.43
	Libertarian	Steven I. Givot	52,273	0.42
	Natural Law	Merrill M. Becker	48,371	0.38
	Libertarian	Michael R. Linksvayer	40,548	0.32
	Natural Law	Lesia Wasylyk	38,474	0.31
	Socialist Workers	John Votava	35,362	0.28
	Populist	Thomas Nash	34,727	0.28
	Populist	Irvin E. Thompson	33,158	0.26
	Populist	Eldon Weder	19,850	0.16
Total votes			12,608,788	100

Judicial elections

Judicial elections were held.^[1]

Ballot measures

Illinois voters voted on a two ballot measures in 1992.^[5]

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.^[5]

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.^[5]^[6]

Crime Victim Rights Amendment
Option	Votes	% of votes on measure	% of all ballots cast
Yes	2,964,592	80.56	57.40
No	715,602	19.45	13.86
Total votes	3,680,194	100	71.26
Voter turnout	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.^[5]^[7]

Education Equality Amendment^[5]
Option	Votes	% of votes on measure	% of all ballots cast
Yes	1,882,569	57.05	36.45
No	1,417,520	42.95	27.45
Total votes	3,300,089	100	63.90
Voter turnout	50.00%

Advisory referendums

Unfunded Mandates on Local Government referendum

An advisory referendum on unfunded mandates on local government was supported by voters.^[1]

Unfunded Mandates on Local Government referendum^[1]
Candidate	Votes	%
Yes	3,001,471	80.61
No	722,016	19.39
Total votes	3,723,487	100
Voter turnout	56.41%

Local elections

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

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "State of Illinois official vote cast at the general election ." Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "State of Illinois official vote cast at the primary election held on ..." Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Party control of Illinois state government". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Illinois Constitution - Amendments Proposed". www.ilga.gov. Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
^ "Illinois Crime Victim Rights, Amendment 1 (1992)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
^ "Illinois Education Equality, Amendment 2 (1992)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.

[general-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "State of Illinois official vote cast at the general election ." Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 7, 2020.

[primary-2] "State of Illinois official vote cast at the primary election held on ..." Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 7, 2020.

[ballotpediapartycontrol-3] "Party control of Illinois state government". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 26, 2020.

[ui-4] "Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved April 1, 2020.

[ilga1-5] "Illinois Constitution - Amendments Proposed". www.ilga.gov. Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved March 26, 2020.

[6] "Illinois Crime Victim Rights, Amendment 1 (1992)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.

[7] "Illinois Education Equality, Amendment 2 (1992)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 29, 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]