2016 Cook County, Illinois elections

The Cook County, Illinois general election was held on November 8, 2016.[1]

2016 Cook County, Illinois elections

November 8, 2016
Turnout	71.54%

Primaries were held March 15, 2016.[2]

Elections were held for Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recorder of Deeds, State's Attorney, Cook County Board of Review districts 1 and 2, four seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships in the Circuit Court of Cook County and its subcircuits.

Election information

2016 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.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout in Cook County during the primaries was 51.12%, with 1,512,348 ballots cast. Among these, 1,197,073 Democratic, 314,517 Republican, 404 Green, and 354 nonpartisan primary ballots were cast. The city of Chicago saw 53.52% turnout. Suburban Cook County saw 48.61% turnout, its highest turnout for presidential primaries since at least 1992.[3][4][5] In Chicago, more than 118,000 votes cast were early votes, setting a record for the time for Chicago primaries (since surpassed by the 2020 elections).[6] In suburban Cook County, 31,409 mail-in ballots were returned by voters, setting a record (also surpassed in 2020).[7]

The general election saw 71.54% turnout, with 2,205,504 ballots cast. Chicago saw 71.04% turnout and suburban Cook County saw 72.07% turnout.[8][9]

Clerk of the Circuit Court

2016 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election

November 8, 2016
Turnout	66.39%[8][9]
Candidate Dorothy A. Brown Diane Shapiro Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,345,696 656,232 Percentage 67.22% 32.78%
Clerk before election Dorothy A. Brown Democratic Elected Clerk Dorothy A. Brown Democratic

In the 2016 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election, incumbent fourth-term Clerk Dorothy A. Brown, a Democrat, was reelected.

Democratic

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Democratic primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dorothy A. Brown (incumbent)	477,503	47.27
	Democratic	Michelle A. Harris	307,392	30.43
	Democratic	Jacob Meister	221,921	21.97
	Write-in	Tio Hardiman	4	0.00
	Write-in	Others	3,247	0.32
Total votes			1,010,067	100

Republican

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Republican primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Diane S. Shapiro	208,340	100
Total votes			208,340	100

General election

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dorothy A. Brown (incumbent)	1,345,696	67.22
	Republican	Diane S. Shapiro	656,232	32.78
Total votes			2,001,928	100

Recorder of Deeds

2016 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election

November 8, 2016
Turnout	55.41%[8][9]
Candidate Karen Yarbrough Party Democratic Popular vote 1,647,174 Percentage 98.58%
Recorder of Deeds before election Karen Yarbrough Democratic Elected Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough Democratic

In the 2016 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election, incumbent first-term Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough, a Democrat, was reelected, running unopposed in both the Democratic primary and general election.

This was ultimately the last election held for this office, as, on the same day as the general election, Cook County voters approved a ballot measure to merge the office with that of Cook County Clerk by December 7, 2020.[10]

Democratic

Cook County Recorder of Deeds Democratic primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Karen A. Yarbrough (incumbent)	888,242	99.19
	Write-in	Others	7,250	0.81
Total votes			895,492	100

Republican

No candidates, ballot-certified or formal write-in, ran in the Republican primary.[2]

General election

Cook County Recorder of Deeds election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Karen A. Yarbrough (incumbent)	1,647,174	98.58
	Write-in	Phil Collins	57	0.00
	Write-in	Others	23,637	1.42
Total votes			1,670,868	100

State's Attorney

2016 Cook County State's Attorney election

November 8, 2016
Turnout	67.14%[8][9]
Candidate Kim Foxx Christopher Pfannkuche Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,459,087 565,671 Percentage 72.06% 27.94%
State's Attorney before election Anita Alvarez Democratic Elected State's Attorney Kim Foxx Democratic

In the 2016 Cook County State's Attorney election, incumbent second-term State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, a Democrat, lost her bid for reelection, being unseated in the Democratic primary by Kim Foxx, who went on to win the general election.

Only Democrats had this office ever since Richard A. Devine unseated Republican Jack O'Malley in 1996.[11]

Democratic

Cook County State’s Attorney Democratic primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kim Foxx	645,738	58.31
	Democratic	Anita Alvarez (incumbent)	317,594	28.68
	Democratic	Donna More	144,063	13.01
Total votes			1,107,395	100

Republican

Cook County State’s Attorney Republican primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Christopher E.K. Pfannkuche	201,204	100
Total votes			201,204	100

General election

Cook County State’s Attorney election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kim Foxx	1,459,087	72.06
	Republican	Christopher E.K. Pfannkuche	565,671	27.94
Total votes			2,024,758	100

Cook County Board of Review

2016 Cook County Board of Review election

November 8, 2016
2 of 3 seats on the Cook County Board of Review 2 seats needed for a majority
Party Democratic Republican Seats before 2 1 Seats after 2 1 Seat change Seats up 1 1 Races won 1 1

In the 2016 Cook County Board of Review election, two seats, one Democratic-held and one Republican-held, out of its three seats were up for election. Both incumbents won reelection.

The Cook County Board of Review has its three seats rotate the length of terms. In a staggered fashion (in which no two seats have coinciding two-year terms), the seats rotate between two consecutive four-year terms and a two-year term.[12]

1st district

Incumbent second-term member Dan Patlak, a Republican, was reelected. Patlak was last reelected in 2012. This election was to a four-year term.[12]

Democratic

No candidates, ballot-certified or formal write-in, ran in the Democratic primary.[2] The Democrats ultimately nominated Marty Stack.

Republican

Cook County Board of Review 1st district Republican primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Patlak (incumbent)	132,977	100
Total votes			132,977	100

General election

Cook County Board of Review 1st district election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Patlak (incumbent)	353,705	51.89
	Democratic	Marty Stack	327,998	48.11
Total votes			681,703	100

2nd district

Incumbent member Michael Cabonargi, a Democrat first appointed in 2011 and elected to a full term in 2012, was reelected, running unopposed in both the Democratic primary and general election. This election was to a two-year term.[12]

Democratic

Cook County Board of Review 2nd district Democratic primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Cabonargi (incumbent)	275,406	100
Total votes			275,406	100

Republican

No candidates, ballot-certified or formal write-in, ran in the Republican primary.[2]

General election

Cook County Board of Review 2nd district election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Cabonargi (incumbent)	508,321	100
Total votes			508,321	100

Water Reclamation District Board

2016 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election

November 8, 2016
4 of 9 seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago 5 seats needed for a majority
Party Democratic Republican Green Seats before 8 1 0 Seats after 9 0 0 Seat change 1 1 Seats up 3 1 0 Races won 4 0 0

In the 2016 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, four of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board were up for election. Three were regularly scheduled elections, and one was a special election due to a vacancy.[2]

Democrats won all four seats up for reelection. The two incumbents seeking reelection won, and two new members were also elected.

Regularly-scheduled election

Three six-year term seats were up for the regularly-scheduled election. Since three six-year seats were up for election, voters could vote for up to three candidates, and the top-three finishers would win.

Two of the incumbents for the three seats were seeking reelection, Barbara McGowan and Mariyana Spyropoulos, both Democrats.[13] Each won reelection. The third, newly elected, winner of the general election was fellow Democrat Josina Morita.

Democratic

Water Reclamation District Board Democratic primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barbara McGowan (incumbent)	517,239	24.42
	Democratic	Mariyana T. Spyropoulos (incumbent)	423,313	19.99
	Democratic	Josina Morita	388,766	18.36
	Democratic	Kevin McDevit	303,170	14.32
	Democratic	Joseph Daniel Cook	321,814	15.20
	Democratic	R. Cary Capparelli	163,482	7.72
Total votes			2,117,784	100

Republican

No candidates, ballot-certified or formal write-in, ran in the Republican primary.[2]

General election

Water Reclamation District Board election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barara McGowan (incumbent)	1,150,063	28.79
	Democratic	Mariyana T. Spyropoulos (incumbent)	951,773	23.83
	Democratic	Josina Morita	919,714	23.03
	Green	Karen Roothaan	343,930	8.61
	Green	George Milkowski	308,576	7.73
	Green	Michael Smith	320,162	8.02
Total votes			3,994,218	100

Unexpired term (2 years)

A special election was held to fill the seat vacated when Patrick Daley Thompson resigned to assume office as a Chicago alderman.[14] This seat had been filled with an interim appointment by Governor Bruce Rauner of David J. Walsh.[15] Walsh was a Republican.[16]

Democratic

Water Reclamation District Board unexpired term Democratic primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Martin J. Durkan	334,416	38.27
	Democratic	Tom Greenhaw	296,262	33.90
	Democratic	Andrew Seo	236,950	27.11
	Write-in	Others	6,276	0.72
Total votes			873,904	100

Republican

Water Reclamation District Board unexpired term Republican primary[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Herb Schumann	194,158	100
Total votes			194,158	100

General election

Water Reclamation District Board unexpired term election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Martin J. Durkan	1,220,944	64.13
	Republican	Herb Schumann	482,277	25.33
	Green	Christopher Anthony	200,706	10.54
Total votes			1,903,927	100

Judicial elections

13 judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County were up for partisan elections due to vacancies.[1] 57 judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County were up for retention elections.[17]

22 subcircuit courts judgeships were up for partisan elections due to vacancies.[1] Other judgeships had retention elections.

Ballot questions

Two ballot questions were included on ballots county-wide during the November general election.

Clerk-Recorder Office

A ballot question was referred by the Cook County Board of Commissioners to the voters of Cook County as to whether the position of Cook County Recorder of Deeds should be eliminated, and its duties merged into the position Cook County Clerk. Voters ultimately approved the ballot question.

The sponsor of the legislation passed by the Cook County Board of Commissioners which created the ballot question was John Fritchey.[18] The legislation to create this ballot question passed unanimously in a vote of all seventeen members of the Board of Commissioners.[18]

The last time the county had voted by referendum on whether to eliminate an elected office was in 1972, when voters strongly voted in favor of eliminating the elected position of Cook County Coroner, replacing it with an appointed medical examiner.[19]

The ballot measure asked the question,

Shall the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds be eliminated and all duties and responsibilities of the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds be transferred to, and assumed by, the Office of the Cook County Clerk by December 7, 2020?[20]

Clerk-Recorder Office ballot question[1][8][9]

Candidate		Votes	%
Yes		1,195,413	63.15
No		697,427	36.85
Total votes		1,892,840	100
Voter turnout		62.77%

Earned Sick Time

A ballot question was created by a successful citizen initiative petition which asked Cook County voters whether they believed that Illinois should enact the Earned Sick Time for Employees Act, thus allowing Illinois workers to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave.[21]

The ballot measure asked the question,

Shall Illinois enact the Earned Sick Time for Employees Act which will allow Illinois workers to earn up to 40 hours of sick time a year to take care of their own health or a family member's health?[21]

Earned Sick Time ballot question[1][8][9]

Candidate		Votes	%
Yes		1,718,405	85.53
No		290,815	14.47
Total votes		2,009,220	100
Voter turnout		66.63%

Other elections

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic and Republican committeepeople for the wards of Chicago.[22]

See also

• 2016 Illinois elections

References

1. "General Election Cook County and The City of Chicago Tuesday, November 8, 2016 Combined Summary" (PDF). Retrieved 15 March 2020.
2. "Primary Election Cook County and The City of Chicago Tuesday, March 15, 2016 Combined Summary" (PDF). Cook County Clerk's Office. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
3. "Cook County Primary Election March 15, 2016 Summary Report" (PDF). Cook County Clerk. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
4. "TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE RESULTS AND PROCLAMATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE MARCH 15, 2016 GENERAL PRIMARY ELECTION HELD IN EACH OF THE PRECINCTS IN ALL OF THE WARDS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO" (PDF). chicagoelections.com. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
5. "Despite coronavirus anxiety and problems at the polls, Cook County and Chicago avoid record-low turnout in primary election". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
6. Pearson, Rick (6 April 2020). "Despite coronavirus fears, Chicago's primary turnout was nowhere near a record low". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
7. Hinton, Rachel (8 April 2020). "'Unpredictable Election Day' sparks new records for mail ballot, early voting in suburban Cook County". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
8. "Cook County General Election November 8, 2016 Summary Report" (PDF). Cook County Clerk. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
9. "TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE RESULTS AND PROCLAMATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE NOVEMBER 8, 2016 GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN EACH OF THE PRECINCTS IN ALL OF THE WARDS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO" (PDF). chicagoelections.com. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
10. "Cook County Electorate Approves Ballot Measure to Merge Recorder of Deeds and County Clerk | The Civic Federation". www.civicfed.org. The Civic Federation. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
11. Hinton, Rachel (19 March 2020). "Republicans: O'Brien has 'really decent chance' to oust Foxx in November". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
12. "35 ILCS 200/5-5". ilga.gov. Government of Illinois. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
13. Riley, Chloe (15 March 2016). "Primary Coverage: Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Race". WTTW News. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
14. Board, Editorial (12 October 2016). "Tribune endorsements for Cook County and MWRD races". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
15. "Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago". mwrd.org. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
16. Arriaga, Alexandra (29 March 2018). "Plot thickens in sewage treatment race: Rauner pick could trigger court fight". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
17. "Downloadable Vote Totals". Illinois Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017.
18. "Board of Commissioners of Cook County - File #: 15-6190". cook-county.legistar.com. Cook County Board of Commissioners. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
19. Dardick, Hal (4 November 2016). "Cook County voters to decide fate of recorder of deeds office". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
20. "Cook County, Illinois, Merge Offices, (November 2016)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
21. "Cook County, Illinois, Earned Sick Time, (November 2016)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
22. "PostElectionReport_031516.pdf" (PDF). Cook County Clerk. Retrieved 29 October 2020.