1982 Illinois gubernatorial election

1982 Illinois gubernatorial election

← 1978 November 2, 1982 1986 →
Turnout	61.58% 7.35 pp
Nominee James R. Thompson Adlai Stevenson III Party Republican Democratic Running mate George Ryan Grace Mary Stern Popular vote 1,816,101 1,811,027 Percentage 49.4% 49.3%
County results Thompson:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Stevenson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Governor before election James R. Thompson Republican Elected Governor James R. Thompson Republican

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The 1982 Illinois gubernatorial election was held in Illinois on November 2, 1982. Republican candidate James R. Thompson won a third term in office, defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson III by a slim margin of about 5,000 votes.

Election information[]

The election coincided with those for congress and those for other state offices. The election was part of the 1982 Illinois elections.

Turnout[]

Turnout in the primaries saw 22.42% in the gubernatorial primaries, with a total of 1,337,581 votes cast, and 20.25% in the lieutenant gubernatorial primary, with 1,208,178 votes cast.^[1][2]

Turnout during the general election was 61.58%, with 3,673,707 votes cast.^[1][3]

Convictions for fraud[]

There were "62 indictments and 58 convictions, many involving precinct captains and election officials. The grand jury concluded that 100,000 fraudulent votes had been cast in the city ... Authorities found massive fraud involving vote buying and ballots cast by others in the names of registered voters. In one case, a ballot punched for the Democratic slate had been tabulated 198 times."^[4] The case was prosecuted in November 1982 by US Attorney Dan K. Webb.^[5][6]

The election result has been questioned. Some Democrats have alleged that fraud might have committed by Republicans in areas outside Chicago to secure Thompson his victory.^[5][7] In 2016, Rudy Giuliani suggested that the gubernatorial results had been fraudulent on the part of Chicago Democrats.^[8]

In January 1983, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a petition by Stevenson for a full statewide recount, with the majority decision opining that there was insufficient evidence of either mistakes, fraud, or irregularities that to justify a recount.^[9]

Democratic primary[]

Governor[]

Adlai Stevenson III, former United States Senator, won the primary for the gubernatorial nomination unopposed.

Democratic gubernatorial primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Adlai E. Stevenson	731,041	99.99
	Write-in	Others	94	0.01
Total votes			731,135	100

Lieutenant Governor[]

Grace Mary Stern won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor unopposed.

Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Grace Mary Stern	588,942	99.98
	Write-in	Others	103	0.02
Total votes			589,045	100

Republican primary[]

Governor[]

Incumbent James R. Thompson defeated challengers John E. Roche and V. A. Kelley.

Republican gubernatorial primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	James R. Thompson (incumbent)	507,893	83.75
	Republican	John E. Roche	54,858	9.05
	Republican	V. A. Kelley	43,627	7.19
	Write-in	Others	68	0.01
Total votes			606,446	100

Lieutenant Governor[]

George Ryan defeated Susan Catania and Donald L. Totten in the lieutenant gubernatorial primary.

Republican lieutenant gubernatorial primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Ryan	278,544	44.99
	Republican	Susan Catania	188,220	30.40
	Republican	Donald L. Totten	152,356	24.61
	Write-in	Others	13	0.00
Total votes			619,133	100

General election[]

Stevenson complained that Thompson was trying to portray him as an ineffectual elitist by famously stating, "He is saying 'Me tough guy,' as if to imply that I’m some kind of wimp."^[10] Before the election, Thompson had been favored by polls and predictions to win by roughly twenty percentage points.^[11]

The nominees of the third-party Libertarian and Taxpayers tickets were both right-of-center, and were therefore regarded as more likely to siphon off more potential supporters from Thompson than from Stevenson.^[12]

Results[]

Thompson won by a narrow 5,074 vote margin. Thompson carried 83 of Illinois' 102 counties, while Stevenson carried on 19. However, Stevenson won Cook County, home of Chicago.^[1] Cook County accounted for a substantial share of the state's population. Thompson had actually carried the vote of suburban Cook County. However, Stevenson had managed to win the city of Chicago by a margin of nearly 4 to 1.^[12] Thompson's narrow victory was likely attributable to his strong performance in the collar counties (the four counties that border Cook County).

1982 gubernatorial election, Illinois^[1][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	James R. Thompson (incumbent)/ George H. Ryan	1,816,101	49.44
	Democratic	Adlai Stevenson III/ Grace Mary Stern	1,811,027	49.30
	Libertarian	Bea Armstrong/ David L. Kelley	24,417	0.66
	Taxpayers	John E. Roche/ Melvin "Mel" Jones	22,001	0.60
	N/A	write-ins	161	0.00	n-a
Majority			5,074	0.14
Turnout			3,673,707	61.58
	Republican hold		Swing

Rate of voter participation[]

3,673,707 (61.58%) of the state's 5,965,514 registered voters voted in the gubernatorial election. This percentage of registered voters participating in the 1982 gubernatorial election marked a 7.35% increase from that of the preceding 1978 gubernatorial election.^[3][1][13]

183,311 of the 3,856,875 individuals that cast ballots in the state's 1982 general election did not vote in the gubernatorial race.^[12][3] This number of "blank votes" in the gubernatorial election was equal to 4.75% of the voters who participated in the state general election,^[3] and 3.07% of the state's registered voters.^[1] 2,108,639 (35.35%) of the state's registered voters did not cast valid ballots in the state's general election.^[1] The combined total of the registered voters who cast no valid ballot and the registered voters who cast ballots with "blank votes" in the gubernatorial election meant that 2,291,950 (38.42%) of the registered voters did not vote in the gubernatorial election.^[3][1]

Certification of results[]

The final canvass conducted by election officials was conducted on November 22, 1982.^[12] The Illinois State Board of Elections certified the result on January 23, 1982.^[14]

Partial recounts[]

For the first time since its passage in 1977, Illinois' law outlining election recounts was invoked.^[12] The law enabled candidates to request partial recounts of the votes in up to 25% of the state's more than 7,000 election precincts, with candidates being able to hand-pick the precincts to be recounted.^[12] Stevenson opted for a recount of precincts in 70 of the state's 102 counties. The counties chosen where ones where Thompson had received a strong share of the vote.^[12] Thompson also opted to invoke his right to a partial recount, and chose to have a recount of precincts in 32 of Chicago's 50 wards. The wards in question were ones where Stevenson had received a strong share of the vote.^[12]

Unsuccessful petition by Stevenson for a full state recount[]

On December 7, 1982 Stevenson and Stern filed a petition with the Illinois Supreme Court request a recount.^[14] Stevenson and Stern's petition argued that the election had been impacted by "widespread irregularities and error".^[9] Thompson and Ryan filed their objections to this on December 10, 1982.^[14] Under the state's 1977 election recount law, if a complete statewide recount had been ordered, the recount would have been supervised by a three-member panel of Illinois Circuit Court judges. Under the law, the Illinois Supreme Court would have selected the three judges to serve on the panel.^[12]

At the time of the case, four of the Illinois Supreme Court's seven justices were Democrats.^[9] Oral arguments were heard by the court on December 21, 1982.^[14] Stevenson put forth an argument that, based on the evidence gathered in the partial recount of 500,000 votes in 70 of the state's 102 counties, that he believed a full statewide recount would find him to have won the election by an approximately 11,000-vote margin.^[9] Stevenson claimed that the partial recount in the precincts he had selected had found enough invalid ballots to decrease Thompson's margin-of-victory from 5,074 to merely 325 votes.^[12] However, Thompson's legal counsel characterized a recount as unwarranted, and also challenged the figures Stevenson alleged that the recount of his selected counties had indicated. Thompson argued that many of the ballots which Stevenson had characterized as illegitimate had been so-characterized due to "defacing" that was actually the result of markings from electronic tabulating machines.^[12] Thompson's legal counsel argued that Stevenson did not provide the level of evidence required by the state's 1977 election recount law (a law which had, up until then, never been tested).^[9]

On January 7, 1983, the court issued a 4–3 decision, with a majority opinion authored by Chief Justice Howard C. Ryan, rejecting Stevenson's petition for a recount.^[14][12] The majority opinion of the court found insufficient evidence of either mistakes, fraud, or irregularities to warrant a recount.^[9] Furthermore, in their decision, the court found the state's 1977 law outlining rules for statewide election recounts to be unconstitutional, finding that, in passing the law, the Illinois Legislature and unconstitutionally established what was effectively a new court due to the provision having a three-member panel of Illinois Circuit Court judges oversee statewide recounts.^[9][12] The opinion cited the 1975 state decision Rice v. Cunningham in finding that, "the General Assembly did not have the authority to provide that a case be heard by a three judge panel," and that, "the 1970 Constitution confers no authority in the legislature to create new courts".^[15] The court's axing of the 1977 election law had been unprompted by either party in the case.^[9] The majority opinion was supported by Republican justices Howard C. Ryan, Thomas Moran, Robert C. Underwood, and Democratic justice Seymour Simon. Dissenting were Democratic justices William G. Clark, Joseph Goldenhersh, and Daniel P. Ward.^[15]

The court's opinion was issued merely three days before the scheduled inauguration of the gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial terms.^[12] Hours after the court's decision, Stevenson conceded defeat,^[12] and declared that he would not challenge the court's decision.^[16]

References[]