Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 3, 1970.
Primaries were held on March 17, 1970.
Additionally, on December 15, 1970, a special election was held in which Illinois voters voted in support of adopting a new proposed state constitution.
Election information
1970 was a midterm election year in the United States.
Turnout
Turnout in the primary election was 29.88%, with a total of 1,570,317 ballots cast. 819,692 Democratic and 750,625 Republican primary ballots were cast.
Turnout during the general election was 69.90%, with 3,731,006 ballots cast.
2,017,717 people cast ballots in the December 15 special election regarding the proposed new Illinois constitution.
Federal elections
United States Senate
A special election was held to fill the remainder of the term of Republican Everett Dirksen, who had died in office. Republican Ralph Tyler Smith had been appointed to fill the seat after Dirksen's death, and he lost the special election to Democrat Adlai Stevenson III.
United States House
All 24 Illinois seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 1970.
No seats switched parties, so the party composition of Illinois' House delegation remained 12 Democrats and 12 Republicans.
State elections
Treasurer
Incumbent Treasurer Adlai Stevenson III, a Democrat, did not seek a second term, instead opting to run for United States Senate. Democrat Alan J. Dixon was elected to succeed him in office.
Since Adlai Stevenson III assumed his U.S. Senate office November 17, due to the nature of it being a special election, there was a brief vacancy in the treasurer's office before Dixon would assume office. Therefore, Governor Richard B. Ogilvie appointed Republican Charles W. Woodford to serve as treasurer from November 17 until Dixon took office on January 3.
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Ray Page, a Republican seeking a third term, was defeated by Democrat Michael Bakalis.
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
State Senate
Seats in the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1970. While there was a 29-29 member split in the chamber after the election, Democrats flipped control of the chamber since there was a Democratic lieutenant governor (Paul Simon).
State House of Representatives
Seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1970. Republicans retained control of the chamber.
Trustees of University of Illinois
Elections were held to elect Trustees of University of Illinois system. This included a regularly-scheduled election of three seats, and a special election to fill a vacancy.
Regular election
The regular to fill three seats saw the election new Democratic members William D. Forsyth Jr., George W. Howard III, and Earl L. Neal.
Incumbent Republican Earl Edwin Walker (appointed in 1970) was not reelected. Incumbent Republican W. Clement Stone (appointed in 1969 to replace Harold Pogue following his death in office) lost reelection, running in the regular election instead of the special election to fill Pogue's seat. Second-term Democratic incumbent Howard W. Clement was not renominated. Also not renominated was Democrat Theodore A. Jones (who had been appointed in 1963, and thereafter reelected in 1964)
Special election
Democrat Roger B. Pogue defeated Republican educator and Illinois State Representative Frances L. Dawson in the special election to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term. Despite losing in the popular vote, Dawson placed first in 64 counties, while Pogue placed first in 38.
Incumbent Republican W. Clement Stone (appointed in 1969 to replace Harold Pogue, whose seat this had been, after his death in office), did not run in this election, instead running in the regular election for a full term.
Turnout for the special election was 60.87%.
Judicial elections
Multiple judicial positions were up for election in 1970.