Election Day 2020: Results for Lake County

Stephen Kelley

On November 3rd, people all over the country were able to cast their votes for prospective candidates and referenda of their choice.

While key votes were of national importance, items on the ballot fell into a wide range of scale, from local to national.

On Election Day, Lake County, Illinois, was one of the many counties around the United States to participate in this form of critical civic engagement.

In Illinois, highlight items included those for the United States presidency, the federal senatorial and representative seats, and the Fair Tax Amendment proposal.

In Lake County specifically, the elimination of the recorder’s office was also up to vote.

The general election focuses on many offices and referenda, but federal positions are a consistent focal point. Here are results for Lake County voting for Federal Offices.

President and Vice President of the United States

Trump / Pence (Rep) (Incumbent) – 109,775 (39.78%)

Biden / Harris (Dem) – 161,063 (58.37%) 

U.S. Senator

Mark C. Curran (Rep) – 114,403 (41.70%)

Richard J. Durbin (Dem) (Incumbent) – 148,812 (54.24%) 

Representatives in Congress

Sixth District

Jean Ives (Rep) – 15,904 (53.26%)

Sean Casten (Dem) – 13,560 (45.41%)

Tenth District

Valerie Ramirez Mukherjee (Rep) – 74,937 (38.04%)

Brad Schneider (Dem) – 122,039 (61.96%)

Fourteenth District

Jim Oberweis (Rep) – 23,856 (52.00%)

Lauren Underwood (Dem) – 22,020 (48.00%)

In addition to the races, there were also several referenda. Among them was a county-wide referendum on whether or not to eliminate the recorder’s office, and it was the only referendum to pertain to all of Lake County specifically.

Generally, the county recorder’s office’s role is to index and record any documents that need to be held onto or saved.

These are the results on whether or not to eliminate Lake County’s recording office.

Eliminate the Office – 168,601 (67.31%)

Maintain the Office – 81,888 (32.69%)

Finally, Lake County had the opportunity to vote on state-wide referenda. This year, however, only one was state-wide.

The proposed “Fair Tax for Illinois” detailed the implementation of a graduated rate income tax structure.

According to the Tax Foundation, this would have resulted in Illinois having the second-highest corporate income tax rate in the country and the sixth-highest pass-through business income rate. Here’s how Lake County voted on the proposed amendment:

Proposed Amendment to the 1970 Illinois Constitution

Yes – 116,599 (44.60%)

No – 144,828 (55.40%)

While many of the election day results aligned with previous years, others demonstrated a break from past decisions.

Any interested in additional or more detailed results for Lake County’s votes can click here to check out a full index of this ballot’s results.