1944 Illinois elections

1944 Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial election
	November 7, 1944
	November 7, 1944
Lieutenant Governor before election; Hugh W. Cross; Republican	Elected Lieutenant Governor ; Hugh W. Cross; Republican

1944 Illinois gubernatorial election
	November 7, 1944
	November 7, 1944
Governor before election; Dwight H. Green; Republican	Elected Governor ; Dwight H. Green; Republican

1944 Illinois elections
	November 7, 1944
	November 7, 1944

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 7, 1944.[1]

Primaries were held April 11, 1944.[1]

Election information

Turnout

In the primaries, 1,428,685 ballots were cast (635,487 Democratic and 793,198 Republican).[1]

In the general election, 4,079,024 ballots were cast.[1]

Federal elections

United States President

Illinois voted for the Democratic ticket of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.

United States Senate

Incumbent Democrat Scott W. Lucas won reelection to a second term.

United States House

All 26 Illinois seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1944.

Democrats flipped four Republican-held seats, making the composition of Illinois' House delegation 15 Republicans and 11 Democrats.

State elections

Governor

Incumbent Governor Dwight H. Green, a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Gubernatorial Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas J. Courtney	531,134	100
	Write-in	Others	1	0.00
Total votes			531,135	100

Republican primary

Gubernatorial Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dwight H. Green (incumbent)	621,286	86.16
	Republican	Oscar E. Carlstrom	99,831	13.84
Total votes			721,117	100

General election

Governor election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dwight H. Green	2,013,270	50.75
	Democratic	Thomas J. Courtney	1,940,999	48.93
	Socialist Labor	Charles Storm	6,906	0.17
	Prohibition	Willis Ray Wilson	5,590	0.14
Total votes			3,966,765	100

Lieutenant Governor

Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Hugh W. Cross, a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Lieutenant gubernatorial Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward C. "Ted" Hunter	487,810	100
Total votes			487,810	100

Republican primary

Lieutenant gubernatorial Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hugh W. Cross	613,829	100
	Write-in	Others	1	0.00
Total votes			613,830	100

General election

Lieutenant gubernatorial election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hugh W. Cross (incumbent)	1,950,767	50.25
	Democratic	Edward C. "Ted" Hunter	1,919,029	49.43
	Socialist Labor	Gregory P. Lyngas	6,816	0.18
	Prohibition	Henry Johnson Long	5,827	0.15
Total votes			3,882,439	100

Attorney General

1944 Illinois Attorney General election

November 7, 1944


Nominee	George F. Barrett	Sveinbjorn Johnson
Party	Republican	Democratic
Popular vote	1,959,836	1,906,110
Percentage	50.53%	49.15%

Attorney General before election

George F. Barrett
Republican

Elected Attorney General

George F. Barrett
Republican

Incumbent Attorney General George F. Barrett, a Republican, won reelection to second term.

Democratic primary

Attorney General Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sveinbjorn Johnson	467,934	100
Total votes			467,934	100

Republican primary

Attorney General Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George F. Barrett	554,353	86.13
	Republican	Lloyd C. Moody	89,306	13.88
Total votes			643,659	100

General election

Attorney General election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George F. Barrett	1,959,836	50.53
	Democratic	Sveinbjorn Johnson	1,906,110	49.15
	Socialist Labor	Tony Berchon	6,658	0.17
	Prohibition	Frederick Juchhoff	5,729	0.15
Total votes			3,878,333	100

Secretary of State

1944 Illinois Secretary of State election

November 7, 1945


Nominee	Edward J. Barrett	Arnold P. Benson
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	2,003,057	1,886,876
Percentage	51.33%	48.35%

Secretary of State before election

Edward J. Hughes (before primary)
Democratic
Richard Yates Rowe (before general)
Republican

Elected Secretary of State

Edward J. Barrett
Democratic

Incumbent Secretary of State Edward J. Hughes did not seek reelection. Hughes then died before the general election, and in June of 1940, Richard Yates Rowe, a Republican, was appointed to fill the rest of his term. In the election, Democrat Edward J. Barrett was elected to permanently succeed them in office.

Democratic primary

Secretary of State Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward J. Barrett (incumbent)	505,699	100
	Write-in	Others	1	0.00
Total votes			505,700	100

Republican primary

Arnold P. Benson won the Republican primary, defeating incumbent Illinois Treasurer and former congressman William Stratton.

Secretary of State Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Arnold P. Benson	401,040	57.00
	Republican	William G. Stratton	302,539	43.00
Total votes			703,579	100

General election

Secretary of State election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward J. Barrett (incumbent)	2,003,057	51.33
	Republican	Arnold P. Benson	1,886,876	48.35
	Socialist Labor	Louis Fisher	6,927	0.18
	Prohibition	Robert W. Melven	5,740	0.15
	Write-in	Others	1	0.00
Total votes			3,902,601	100

Auditor of Public Accounts

1944 Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts election

November 7, 1944


Nominee	Arthur C. Lueder	William Vicars
Party	Republican	Democratic
Popular vote	1,951,828	1,910,269
Percentage	50.37%	49.30%

Auditor of Public Accounts before election

Arthur C. Lueder
Republican

Elected Auditor of Public Accounts

Arthur C. Lueder
Republican

Incumbent Auditor of Public Accounts Arthur C. Lueder, a Republican, was reelected to a second term.

Democratic primary

Auditor of Public Accounts Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	William Vicars	468,933	100
Total votes			468,933	100

Republican primary

Auditor of Public Accounts Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Arthur C. Lueder	606,531	100
Total votes			606,531	100

General election

Auditor of Public Accounts election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Arthur C. Lueder	1,951,828	50.37
	Democratic	William Vicars	1,910,269	49.30
	Socialist Labor	O. Alfred Olson	7,132	0.18
	Prohibition	Arthur McFall	5,808	0.15
Total votes			3,875,037	100

Treasurer

1944 Illinois State Treasurer election

November 7, 1944


Nominee	Conrad F. Becker	Earl W. Merritt
Party	Republican	Democratic
Popular vote	1,933,705	1,918,595
Percentage	50.03%	49.64%

Treasurer before election

William G. Stratton
Republican

Elected Treasurer

Conrad F. Becker
Republican

Incumbent first-term Treasurer William G. Stratton, a Republican, did not seek reelection, instead opting to run for Secretary of State. Republican Conrad F. Becker was elected to succeed him in office.

Democratic primary

Treasurer Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Earl W. Merritt	471,294	100
Total votes			471,294	100

Republican primary

Treasurer Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Conrad F. Becker	422,336	67.29
	Republican	Walter W. Waite	117,506	18.72
	Republican	Taylor E. Wilhelm	87,791	13.99
	Write-in	Others	1	0.00
Total votes			627,633	100

General election

Treasurer election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Conrad F. Becker	1,933,705	50.03
	Democratic	Earl W. Merritt	1,918,595	49.64
	Socialist Labor	Gus Larson	7,071	0.18
	Prohibition	William J. Goodman	5,838	0.15
Total votes			3,865,209	100

Clerk of the Supreme Court

1944 Illinois Clerk of the Supreme Court election

November 7, 1944


Nominee	Earle Benjamin Searcy	Casimir Griglik
Party	Republican	Democratic
Popular vote	1,953,537	1,885,321
Percentage	50.72%	48.95%

Clerk before election

Edward F. Cullinane
Democratic

Elected Clerk

Earle Benjamin Searcy
Republican

Incumbent Clerk of the Supreme Court Edward F. Cullinane, a Democrat appointed to the office in 1940 after the death in office of Adam F. Bloch, did not seek reelection.[1][2] Republican Earle Benjamin Searcy was elected to succeed him in office.

Democratic primary

Clerk of the Supreme Court Democratic primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Casimir Griglik	465,397	100
Total votes			465,397	100

Republican primary

Clerk of the Supreme Court Republican primary[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Earle Benjamin Searcy	585,325	100
Total votes			585,325	100

General election

Clerk of the Supreme Court election[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Earle Benjamin Searcy (incumbent)	1,953,537	50.72
	Democratic	Casimir Griglik	1,885,321	48.95
	Socialist Labor	Rudy Kosic	6,798	0.18
	Prohibition	Harry A. Varney	5,774	0.15
Total votes			3,851,430	100

State Senate

Seats of the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1944. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

State House of Representatives

Seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1944. Republicans retained control of the chamber.

Trustees of University of Illinois

1944 Trustees of University of Illinois election

November 7, 1944

An at-large election was held for three of the nine seats for Trustees of University of Illinois.[1] All three Democratic nominees won.[1] The election was for six-year terms.

Democratic incumbent Karl A. Meyer was reelected to a third term.[3] Democratic incumbent Kenny E. Williamson, who had been appointed to fill a vacancy in 1940 was reelected to his first full term.[3] New Democratic member Walter W. McLaughlin was also elected.[3]

First-term Democratic incumbent Frani A. Jensen was not nominated for reelection.[1][3]

Trustees of the University of Illinois election[1][3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter W. McLaughlin	1,944,733½	16.91
	Democratic	Karl A. Meyer (incumbent)	1,941,038	16.88
	Democratic	Kenney E. Williamson (incumbent)	1,923,750	16.73
	Republican	Charles L. Engstrom	1,899,495½	16.52
	Republican	Charles S. Pillsbury	1,888,459½	16.42
	Republican	Charles Wham	1,862,787½	16.20
	Socialist Labor	Helen Olson	7,269½	0.06
	Socialist Labor	Nada Mijanovich	7,045	0.06
	Socialist Labor	Gabriele McKenzie	6,806	0.06
	Prohibition	Mildred E. Young	6,083½	0.05
	Prohibition	Alonzo L. Parrott	5,956	0.05
	Prohibition	Clay Freeman Gaumer	5,866	0.05
Total votes			11,499,290	100

Ballot measures

Two ballot measures were put before voters in 1954. One was a legislatively referred state statute and one was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment.

In order to be approved, legislatively referred state statues required the support of a majority of those voting on the statute. In order to be approved, legislatively referred constitutional amendments required approval equal to a majority of voters voting in the entire general election.[4]

Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment

Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment, a legislatively referred constitutional amendment which would have amended Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution of the 1870 Constitution of Illinois, failed to meet the threshold for approval.[1][5]

The amendment would have removed a constitutional provision requiring elected county officers to wait for four years after their term expired before they would be eligible to hold that same office again.[5]

Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment[1][5]
Option	Votes	% of all ballots cast
Yes	898,107	22.02
No	653,877	16.03
Total votes	1,551,984	38.05

Illinois General Banking Law Amendment

The Illinois General Banking Law Amendment, a legislatively referred state statute which amended section 10 of the Illinois General Banking Law, was approved by voters.[1][6]

Illinois General Banking Law Amendment[1][6]
Candidate	Votes	%
Yes	973,159	69.12
No	434,767	30.88
Total votes	1,407,926	100

Local elections

Local elections were held.

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References

"OFFICIAL VOTE of the STATE OF ILLINOIS Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION, November 7, 1944 PRIMARY ELECTION General Primary, April 11, 1944" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
"Rosters of Government Officials" (PDF). State of Illinois. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
"Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
Illinois Constitution of 1870 ARTICLE XIV Section 2
"Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment (1944)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
"Illinois General Banking Law Amendment (1944)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[results-1] "OFFICIAL VOTE of the STATE OF ILLINOIS Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION, November 7, 1944 PRIMARY ELECTION General Primary, April 11, 1944" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

[2] "Rosters of Government Officials" (PDF). State of Illinois. Retrieved 3 August 2020.

[ui1-3] "Trustees, University of Illinois Board of Trustees" (PDF). University of Illinois. Retrieved 1 April 2020.

[4] Illinois Constitution of 1870 ARTICLE XIV Section 2

[ICOTLA-5] "Illinois County Officer Term Limit Amendment (1944)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

[IGBLA-6] "Illinois General Banking Law Amendment (1944)". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

Elections in Illinois
By year	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
Presidential	1820 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 1956 1962 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020
U.S. House	2000 (1st) 2006 2008 2010 (17th) 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
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 1904 1908 1912 1916 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
State Senate	2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
State House	2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
State judicial	1942 1948 1960 1962 2014 2016 2018 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
Chicago City Council	1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Cicero municipal	1924
Cook County	1946 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Peoria municipal	1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015