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Illinois Election 2022: Live blog, updates, results and more

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"I Voted" stickers on the table for voters after voting at Trinity Lutheran Church in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Some polling places in Evanston have been moved in an effort to reduce exposure of senior citizens to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
  • Photo: Nam Y. Huh/AP

This is a live blog of stories, social media posts, and embedded information chronicling Election Day 2022 from Illinois Public Media journalists. Tonight, you can count on us to keep you up-to-date with: đź“» National @NPR coverage on WILL-AM 580 + FM 90.9 đź“ş Our VOTE 2022: Election Night Special at 8 pm on WILL-TV with @NewsHour đź’» Real-time results on our website at IllinoisNewsroom.org

Wednesday 11:30 p.m.

Listen below to our Illinois Public Media statewide radio updates anchored by Brian Mackey. They aired November 8, 2022 at 7:15 p.m., 8:15 p.m., 9:15 p.m., 10:15 p.m., and 11:15 p.m.

Wednesday 3:20 p.m.

Scherer Reelected to Illinois House

Decatur Democrat Sue Scherer has been reelected to a sixth term in the 96th Illinois House District.

With all precincts reporting, Scherer received 58 percent of the vote, compared to 42 percent for her Republican challenger Lisa Smith of Mount Auburn. That does not include provisional or late-arriving mail-in ballots yet to be counted.

Smith, a pediatric nurse practitioner, thanked her supporters on her campaign Facebook page Wednesday morning. She told them to “keep praying for Illinois, it will take God to change any of this mess.”

Scherer’s associated state senator is Springfield Democrat Doris Turner in the 48th Senate District. She has apparently won a narrow reelection victory, with nearly 51% of the vote against Republican state representative Sandy Hamilton of Springfield. Turner claimed victory Tuesday night. – Jim Meadows

Wednesday 12:00 p.m.

In one of the few contested statehouse races in our area, Republican State Representative Mike Marron leads Democrat Cindy Cunningham in his bid for re-election in the 104th House District.

With many mail-in ballots still to be counted, Marron has about 57-percent of the vote and a lead of nearly five thousand votes of Cunningham, who previously lost to Marron in both 2018 and 2020.

The 104th district includes Danville, Savoy and Rantoul, along with some rural parts of both Champaign and Vermilion counties.

State Senators Scott Bennett (D-Champaign) and Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) were both unopposed in their re-election bids, as were State Reps. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville), Chris Miller (R-Oakland) and Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City).

Wednesday 4:20 a.m.

Some other election headlines from Tuesday:

  • In one of the most expensive state house races in Illinois, Democrat Sharon Chung defeated Scott Preston in the 91st District to represent central Illinois stretching from Bloomington-Normal to Bartonville. Chung is a classical musician and Mclean County Board member. The race attracted more than $2-million dollars from the Democratic Party. Chung is the first Korean American to win election to the General Assembly and the first  Asian American from outside Chicagoland. She’s also the first Democrat Bloomington-Normal has sent to the state house since 1982. – Charlie Schlenker/WGLT

  • The Illinois Supreme Court will stay in Democratic hands. That’s after suburban voters elected Lake County Judge Elizabeth Rochford to the state high’s court. The open 2nd Supreme Court district seat she won includes Kane, Lake and McHenry counties. Republicans needed to win that seat and the open 3rd Supreme Court district seat that includes DuPage and Will counties to control the court for the first time since 1969. With Rochford’s win, Democrats will have at least four seats on the seven-seat court. – Dave McKinney/WBEZ

  • WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in battleground Michigan have enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution, joining reliably Democratic California and Vermont on election night. It’s still too early to call an anti-abortion measure in Kentucky. The Tuesday ballot initiatives come months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion it guaranteed to women nationwide. The June decision has led to near-total bans in a dozen states. Montana voters were considering newborn resuscitative care requirements with possible criminal penalties. The expansive AP VoteCast survey of more than 90,000 voters across the country shows about two-thirds of voters say abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
  • WASHINGTON (AP) — For weeks, Republicans predicted a “red wave” would carry them to power in Congress, as voters repudiated majority Democrats for failing to tame skyrocketing inflation and address worries about rising crime. The reality appeared far different early Wednesday. Rather than a wholesale rejection of President Joe Biden and his party, the results were far more mixed as returns from Tuesday’s midterms trickled in. Many Democratic incumbents proved surprisingly resilient, outperforming their party’s own expectations.

Wednesday 3:20 a.m.

Champaign County election results remain uncertain  

URBANA – If Champaign County election tallies from late Tuesday night hold up, Democrats won every county office they ran for. And voters in the Mahomet-Seymour school district once again rejected a bond referendum to pay for a new junior high school building — even though the 2nd referendum was for less money than the first.

But Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons says it’s too soon to be sure of all the results. That’s because his office still has to count thousands of mail-in ballots — plus more that may be in transit.

Ballot counting was delayed by long lines of voters as some polls were closing Tuesday evening — and by computer network problems that Ammons blames on a suspected cyber-attack. He says the final voting results won’t be certain until the election is certified in 14 days.

According to the votes counted so far, Democrats gained two seats on the Champaign County Board, for a 16 to six majority.

The Tuesday night tallies also show both Democratic County Clerk Ammons and Sheriff Dustin Heuerman being re-elected to second terms over Republican challengers. And Democratic county board member Steve Summers was elected the new county executive, defeated Sadorus village president Ted Myhre. He would succeed Democrat Darlene Kloeppel, who did not seek a second term.   — Jim Meadows

Wednesday 12:10 a.m.

Tuesday 11:50 p.m.

Democratic candidate Nikki Budzinski is claiming victory over Republican Regan Deering in the 13th Congressional District race. NBC News and CNN have projected her as the winner. But the Associated Press has yet to make the call. With 83% of votes counted, Budzinski leads Deering 54.3% to 45.7%. 

 

Tuesday 11:35 p.m.

Tuesday 10:25 p.m.

 

Tuesday 10:20 p.m.

Tuesday 9:50 p.m.

As of now, the 13th Congressional District race is too close to call. With 56% of votes counted, Nikki Budzinski (D) leads Regan Deering (R) 51.7% to 48.3%. However, Champaign County has yet to report votes. Budzinksi currently leads in Springfield and East St. Louis. Deering leads in Macoupin, Macon and Piatt Counties.

 
 

Tuesday 9:40 p.m.

Tuesday 9:05 p.m.

AP VoteCast: Inflation, democracy drive demoralized voters

WASHINGTON (AP) — The AP VoteCast survey shows that high inflation and fears about democracy’s health weighed heavily on U.S. voters in the midterm elections. It’s a set of races in which once — and perhaps future — rivals for the White House, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, cast a shadow. The detailed portrait of the American electorate is based on preliminary results from VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 90,000 voters nationwide conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago. About half of voters say inflation factored significantly in their vote. Slightly fewer — 44% — say the future of democracy was their primary consideration.

Tuesday 8:50 p.m.

Governor JB Pritzker’s victory speech. 

Tuesday 8:15 p.m.

JB Pritzker declares victory in Illinois’ governor’s race despite GOP challenger Darren Baily not having conceded yet.

Tuesday 8:10 p.m.

GOP candidate Kathy Salvi has called Sen. Tammy Duckworth to concede Illinois’ senate race. 

Tuesday 7:50 p.m.

Visuals from Nikki Budzinski’s watch party in Springfield.

Tuesday 7:30 p.m.

Many first-time voters cast their ballots at the University of Illinois. Polling places were scattered across the University of Illinois

campus, including at the Activities and Recreation Center

Tuesday 7:05 p.m.

Per the Associated press: Democrat JB Pritzker wins reelection for governor in Illinois and Democrat Tammy Duckworth wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Illinois.

Tuesday 4:20 p.m.

With the first polls set to close in under an hour, The Associated Press’ Mike Catalini explains why the AP will be able to call some elections immediately.

Polling places in Champaign County saw varied turnout and waiting times on Election Day.  Click here to read Madison Holcomb’s story on voter lines in places around Champaign.

Tuesday 12:55 p.m.

Illinois Public Media politics/democracy reporter Harrison Malkin reports that both candidates in Illinois’ 13th congressional district are getting support in getting out the vote.

More dispatches from voting around the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus thanks to journalists in the Illinois Student Newsroom.

Tuesday 12:30 p.m.

The Champaign County Clerk’s office is reporting that its computer server and connectivity are being affected by suspected cyber-attacks. It says the clerk’s IT team has prevented the attacks from being successful and no data or information has been compromised. The office urges voters to stay in line while election judges navigate around computer issues. 

Tuesday 10:42 a.m.

Tuesday 6:00 a.m.

The polls for the Midterm Elections are open in Illinois until 7:00 p.m. Attorney General Kwame Raoul says more than 170 teams of investigators and assistant attorneys general will monitor elections throughout Illinois. If you witness any illegal activity, you are asked to call the Attorney General’s office at 866.559.6812.

Meanwhile, the Illinois State Board of Elections reports record vote-by-mail numbers this year. Click here to read more.

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