1946 Illinois elections

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 5, 1946.^[1]

Primaries were held April 9, 1946.^[1]

Election information[]

1946 was a midterm election year in the United States.

Turnout[]

In the primary election 1,531,657 ballots were cast (741,821 Democratic and 789,836 Republican).^[1]

In the general election 3,619,332 ballots were cast.^[1]

Federal elections[]

United States House[]

All 26 Illinois seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1946.

Republicans flipped five Republican-held seats, leaving the Illinois House delegation to consist of 20 Republicans and 6 Democrats.

State elections[]

Treasurer[]

Incumbent first-term Treasurer, Republican Conrad F. Becker, did not seek reelection. Republican Richard Yates Rowe was elected to succeed him.

Democratic primary[]

Treasurer Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sam Keys	385,419	100
Total votes			385,419	100

Republican primary[]

Treasurer Republican primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard Yates Rowe	411,070	61.22
	Republican	Stephen A. Day	202,594	30.17
	Republican	I. Jay Brown	57,838	8.61
	Write-in	Others	4	0.00
Total votes			671,506	100

General election[]

Treasurer election^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard Yates Rowe	1,959,881	56.73
	Democratic	Sam Keys	1,480,597	42.86
	Prohibition	Robert W. Melven	14,144	0.41
Total votes			3,454,622	100

Superintendent of Public Instruction[]

Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction , a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary[]

Superintendent of Public Instruction Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	C. H. Engle	567,801	100
Total votes			567,801	100

Republican primary[]

Superintendent of Public Instruction Republican primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	(incumbent)	599,582	100
	Write-in	Others	5	0.00
Total votes			599,587	100

General election[]

Superintendent of Public Instruction election^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	(incumbent)	1,959,738	57.37
	Democratic	C. Hobart Engle	1,439,645	42.14
	Prohibition	Henry L. Lundquist	16,813	0.49
Total votes			3,416,196	100

State Senate[]

Seats in the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1946. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

State House of Representatives[]

Seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1946. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

Trustees of University of Illinois[]

1946 Trustees of University of Illinois election

← 1944

November 5, 1946

1948 →

An election was held for three of nine seats for Trustees of University of Illinois.

First-term Republican incumbents Park Livingston and John R. Fornof were reelected.^[1]^[2] New Republican member Doris Simpson Holt was elected.^[1]^[2]

Incumbent Republican Helen M. L. Grigsby was not renominated.^[2]

Trustees of the University of Illinois election^[1]^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Park Livingston (incumbent)	1,961,346½	19.44
	Republican	John R. Fornof (incumbent)	1,915,895	18.69
	Republican	Doris Simpson Holt	1,885,964½	18.69
	Democratic	Don Forsyth	1,463,251½	14.50
	Democratic	James Everett Etherton	1,420,780	14.08
	Democratic	Albert H. Wohlers	1,395,980½	13.83
	Prohibition	Henry Jonhson Long	16,488½	0.16
	Prohibition	Mildred E. Young	16,202	0.16
	Prohibition	Louis Gilbert Krandell	14,776	0.15
Total votes			10,090,684½	100

Judicial elections[]

On June 3, 1946 elections were held to fill vacancies on the Superior Court of Cook County.^[1] On November 5, 1946, a special election was held to fill a vacancy on the Circuit Court of Cook County.^[1] On December 17, 1946, a special election was held to fill a vacancy on the Sixth Judicial Circuit.^[1]

Ballot measures[]

Two measures was put before voters in 1946.

Illinois Gateway Amendment[]

The Illinois Gateway Amendment, a proposed amendment to Section 2 of Article XIV of the Constitution, failed to meet the threshold for approval.^[1]^[3]

If approved, this amendment would have enabled the legislature to submit legislatively referred amendments to up to three constitutional articles per session.^[3]

In order to be approved, legislatively referred constitutional amendments required approval equal to a majority of voters voting in the entire general election.^[3]^[4]

Illinois Gateway Amendment^[1]^[3]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Yes	1,273,653	35.19
No	368,108	10.17
Total votes	1,641,761	45.36

World War II Veterans' Compensation Act[]

The World War II Veterans' Compensation Act, a legislatively referred bond issue, was approved by voters.^[5]

The bond issue would be used to compensate veterans of World War II.^[5]

It was required to be approved by a vote equal to vote for whichever chamber of the state legislature received the greatest vote total. In this case, that meant it needed to receive 1,709,721 votes.

World War II Veterans' Compensation Act^[1]
Candidate	Votes	%
Yes	2,173,425	68.92
No	980,345	31.09
Total votes	3,153,770	100

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 ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "OFFICIAL VOTE of the STATE OF ILLINOIS Cast at the General Election, November 5, 1946 Judicial Elections, 1945, 1946 • Primary Election General Primary, April 9, 1946" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 9 July 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Illinois Gateway Amendment (1946)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
^ Illinois Constitution of 1870 ARTICLE XIV Section 2
^ ^a ^b "Illinois Veterans' Compensation Question (1946)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

[results-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s "OFFICIAL VOTE of the STATE OF ILLINOIS Cast at the General Election, November 5, 1946 Judicial Elections, 1945, 1946 • Primary Election General Primary, April 9, 1946" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 9 July 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}

[ui1-2] "Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved 1 April 2020.

[IGA-3] "Illinois Gateway Amendment (1946)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

[4] Illinois Constitution of 1870 ARTICLE XIV Section 2

[IVCQ-5] "Illinois Veterans' Compensation Question (1946)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

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[5]

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State legislatures	Iowa Senate
Mayors	New Orleans

v t Elections in Illinois
By year	1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1998 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Presidential	1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 (Dem primary, Rep primary) 2012 2016 (Dem primary) 2020 (Dem primary)
U.S. Senate	1885 1913 1914 1918 1920 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022
U.S. House	2000 (1st) 2006 2008 2010 (17th) 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Special	2nd congressional, 1995 14th congressional, 2008 5th congressional, 2009 2nd congressional, 2013 18th congressional, 2015 Comptroller, 2016
Gubernatorial	1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Lieutenant gubernatorial	1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968
Other state executive offices	Attorney General 2018 2022 Secretary of State 2022 Comptroller 2016
State Senate	2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State House	2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State judicial	1936 1938 1940 1942 1948 1960 1962 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures and referendums	State capitol referendum (1834) Cutback Amendment (1980) Crime Victim Rights Amendment (1992) Governor Recall Amendment (2010) Public Pension Amendment (2012) Marsy's Law (2014) Right to Vote Amendment (2014) Transporation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment (2016) Fair Tax (2020)
Chicago mayoral	1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 (Mar) 1844 (Apr) 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1876 (Apr) 1876 (Jul) 1877 1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 (Apr) 1893 (Dec) 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 1979 1983 1987 1989 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Chicago City Council	1923 1927 1929 2015 2019
Other municipal	1924 Cicero
Cook County	1946 1980 (State's Attorney) 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022