WCB Politics Writer
The Illinois primary on Tuesday saw Mitt Romney in the
winner’s circle with 430,744 votes.
But the results may have either little or large effects on
the Republican presidential nomination as a whole. However, it is still too
early to tell whether the Illinois primary had any effect.
Jim Allen, the spokesman for the Chicago Election Board
said, “We [had] an exceptionally low turnout.
“I think that it is a reflection of the fact that there is
no high profile contest on the Democratic side of the ballot in terms of a
statewide contest and in terms of a presidential contest—the incumbent
Democratic president. 90 percent of voters in Chicago polled Democratic
ballots.” The president has no opposition at all as well, said Allen.
The Cook County Clerks office released a press release that
offered a few highlights about the election in regards to suburban Cook County.
The press release stated that 53 percent
of voters cast Democratic ballots while 46 percent cast Republican ballots.
Wheeling Township cast the highest number of Republican votes with 14,579.
These results will be updated however when more mail-in ballots are processed.
According to the press release, as well, the turnout for
suburban Cook County was down from the presidential primary in 2008.
Ken Menzel, the deputy general counsel for the Illinois
State Board of Elections, said via email “the reasons people don’t vote are as
varied as the million nonparticipating registered voters.”
“In this particular election one factor [for the low turnout of voters] was likely that the Democratic Party had an unopposed candidate for president and did not have a lot of hotly contested lower offices that generated widespread publicity,” said Menzel. “But many other things certainly factor in with different people.”
However, even with the low number of voters who went to the
polls the election was “remarkable smooth,” said Menzel. The only real problem
that happened during the primary was in regards to the “too wide,” ballots where
in some counties the ballot was too wide to fit in the counting machines.
Chicago specifically, is considered to be a high Democratic
area and so unless a person was affiliated with the Republican Party, voting on
Tuesday wasn’t that important.
Allen said, “It is apparent from the numbers and looking at
it that this does not get the electorate excited like a contested statewide
contest or rather a competitive statewide contest at the top of the ballot. Where
the candidates are debating issues and records and everything else.”
Illinois has in the past couple elections leaned
“Democratic, however, this is certainly not uniform across the various parts of
the state,” said Menzel.
And although the Democratic side does not have a
high-profile competition that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to look out
for during the primaries and caucuses coming.
“On the Republican side there is a spirited contest for
president but again [there is a] relatively small number of voters in the city
of Chicago [that] have tended to poll Republican. It is not going to have [the]
impact in Chicago that it might have in DuPage County,” said Allen
According to a Chicago
Tribune article, six times in the past 36 years the Illinois primary
determined a presidential nomination.
“On the Republican Party side [the primary] may [have an
effect on the presidential nomination]. It appears that one candidate captured
a large majority of the elected delegates from Illinois,” said Menzel.
“Although all of the candidates still have a significant way to go in getting
the necessary delegate count to secure the nomination.”
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