Final unofficial numbers are here, indicating a total of 23,103 ballots cast in the Democratic Primary, and 15,484 in the Republican. The turnout for Democrats was huge, easily setting a record, and a few thousand higher than I thought it would be. Interestingly, there doesn't appear to have been a huge turnout on campus, so most of the new Democrat ballots were from first-time primary voters. I hope to have a precinct-by-precinct look at turnout later today.
On the GOP side, turnout obviously pales in comparison to the Democrats, but the total was the fourth-highest for a GOP Primary in Champaign County since 1990.
County Clerk Mark Shelden has a blog post asking for post-election feedback. Please be sure to tell him what you think, even if it's just a "Good job!"
Illinois Republicans can be quite happy with Hillary's success last night.
Why isn't there ANYTHING posted regarding the win of the City of Champaign Township Advisory Referendum getting enough votes to be placed on November's ballot? It is a shame that every media posting I've checked this morning, has results of everything local but this major victory for those in desperate need of the Township's General Assistance program. Shame on you!
"Why isn't there ANYTHING posted regarding the win of the City of Champaign Township Advisory Referendum getting enough votes to be placed on November's ballot?"
I'm not sure what you mean.
As far as I know, yesterday's referenda were all advisory (and completely meaningless). I don't think the results have any effect on November's ballot. Am I missing something?
Please, I saw nothing in the Township issue indicating that it had anything to do with a referendum. It was purely advisory--what does it mean to say that the City should do everything to help? It may be that that is what the Supervisor intends, but there was nothing in the question that stated that--perhaps that was intentional?
For the first time ever in McLean County, Dems pulled more Primary ballots than Republicans.
Mark Shelden is from all indications a highly competent individual
who does his job with efficiency, friendliness and credibility.
We are fortunate to have him working for us.
I must say, I wasn't sure what that whole question was even about.
What kind of public assistance was the township providing?
What about independents and the other parties? We voted, too.
"What about independents and the other parties? We voted, too."
Yes, but the numbers were very, very small. Green turnout was especially disappointing to me, as this was their first election as an established party.
"Green turnout was especially disappointing to me, as this was their first election as an established party."
I don't know that I was disappointed, per se. Greatly surprised, yes. I mean, really, single digits in a handful of precincts? In a presidential year? When turnout county wide is at or near record levels? That's ludicrously low.
It suggests a couple of possibilities to me:
1) The Green Party maybe really isn't a party after all, at least not in the sense that it has more than literally a handful active participants. There has never been any serious effort at real party building that I could see.
2) The votes that Green candidates do get in general elections, which seem to come more in gubernatorial years than presidential, may not be really much more than protest votes, rather than a sincerely serious movement towards a third party or any coherent new wave in politics.
3) The emorrnous and unprecedented interest and participation on the Dem side may have pre-empted most if not all of the folks who might otherwise have chosen to participate in the Green primary.
I will leave it to others to assign relative weights to these various possibilities. I have not yet decided for myself which, if any, have what degree of merit.
1) The Green Party maybe really isn't a party after all
Two words -
Cynthia McKinney