2000 Cook County, Illinois, elections

The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 7, 2002.^[1][2]

2000 Cook County, Illinois, elections

← 1998 November 7, 2000 2002 →
Turnout	71.50%

Primaries were held March 21, 2000.^[3]

Elections were held for Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recorder of Deeds, State's Attorney, four seats on the Water Reclamation District Board, and judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Election information

2000 was a presidential election year in the United States. The primaries and general elections for Cook County races coincided with those for federal races (President and House) and those for state elections.

Voter turnout

Primary election

Voter turnout in Cook County during the primaries was 28.26%.^[4] The city of Chicago saw 32.82% turnout and suburban Cook County saw 23.13% turnout.^[5][6]

Vote totals of primaries^[3]

Primary	Chicago vote totals	Suburban Cook County vote totals	Total Cook County vote totals
Democratic	424,642	148,370	573,012
Republican	27,701	124,830	152,531
Nonpartisan	2,086	8,841	10,927
Total	454,429	282,041	736,470

General election

The general election saw 71.50% turnout, with 1,988,821 ballots cast.^[4] Chicago saw 70.22% turnout and suburban Cook County saw 72.94% turnout.^[2][5]

Clerk of the Circuit Court

2000 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election

← 1996 November 7, 2000 2004 →
Turnout	59.04%[1][2][4]
Candidate Dorothy A. Brown Nancy F. Mynard Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,197,773 444,336 Percentage 72.94% 27.06%
Clerk before election Aurelia Pucinski Republican Elected Clerk Dorothy A. Brown Democratic

In the 2000 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election, incumbent third-term clerk Aurelia Pucinski, a Republican who had been elected as a Democrat (switching parties in 1998), did not seek reelection.^[7] Democrat Dorothy A. Brown was elected to succeed her.

Brown's election made her the first African-American to serve as clerk of the circuit court of Cook County.^[8]

Primaries

Democratic

Candidates

The following candidates ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court:

Candidate		Experience	Ref
	Dorothy A. Brown	General Auditor for the CTA since 1991 Candidate for Chicago City Treasurer in 1999	[9][10]
	Patrick Levar	Chicago Alderman for the 45th Ward since 1987	[7]
	Joe Moore	Chicago Alderman for the 49th Ward since 1991	[11]
	Patricia Young	Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago since 1992	[7][12]

Results

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Democratic primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dorothy A. Brown	222,906	48.54
	Democratic	Patrick J. Levar	126,642	27.58
	Democratic	Patricia Young	57,999	12.63
	Democratic	Joe Moore	51,673	11.26
Total votes			459,254	100

Republican

Candidate

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court:

• Nancy Mynard, information technology company executive^[7]

Results

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Republican primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nancy F. Mynard	97,149	100
Total votes			97,149	100

General election

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dorothy A. Brown	1,197,773	72.94
	Republican	Nancy F. Mynard	444,336	27.06
Total votes			1,642,109	100

Recorder of Deeds

2000 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election

← 1996 November 7, 2000 2004 →
Turnout	57.50%[1][2][4]
Candidate Eugene Moore Arthur D. Sutton Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,167,630 431,717 Percentage 73.01% 26.99%
Recorder of Deeds before election Eugene Moore Democratic Elected Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore Democratic

In the 2000 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election, incumbent Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore, a Democrat, was elected to his first full term. Moore had first been appointed in 1999 (after Jesse White resigned to become Illinois Secretary of State).

Primaries

Democratic

Candidate

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court:

• Eugene "Gene" Moore, incumbent

Results

Cook County Recorder of Deeds Democratic primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eugene "Gene" Moore (incumbent)	353,823	100
Total votes			353,823	100

Republican

Candidate

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court:

• Arthur D. Sutton

Results

Cook County Recorder of Deeds Republican primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Arthur D. Sutton	95,678	100
Total votes			95,678	100

General election

Cook County Recorder of Deeds election^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eugene "Gene" Moore (incumbent)	1,167,630	73.01
	Republican	Arthur D. Sutton	431,717	26.99
Total votes			1,599,347	100

State's Attorney

2000 Cook County State's Attorney election

← 1996 November 7, 2000 2004 →
Turnout	61.42%[1][2][4]
Candidate Richard A. Devine David P. Gaughan Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,337,578 370,678 Percentage 78.30% 21.70%
State's Attorney before election Richard A. Devine Democratic Elected State's Attorney Richard A. Devine Democratic

In the 2000 Cook County State's Attorney election, incumbent first-term State's Attorney Richard A. Devine, a Democrat, was reelected.

Primaries

Democratic

Candidate

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court:

• Richard A. Devine, incumbent^[13]

Cook County State’s Attorney Democratic primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard A. Devine (incumbent)	379,990	100
Total votes			379,990	100

Republican

Candidate

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court:

• David P. Gaughan, former Assistant Cook County State's Attorney (1989–1999)^[13]

Cook County State’s Attorney Republican primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David P. Gaughan	96,112	100
Total votes			96,112	100

General election

Cook County State’s Attorney election^[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard A. Devine (incumbent)	1,337,578	78.30
	Republican	David P. Gaughan	370,678	21.70
Total votes			1,708,256	100

Water Reclamation District Board

2000 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election

← 1998 November 7, 2000 2002 →
4 of 9 seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago 5 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Party Democratic Republican Seats after 9 0

In the 2000 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, four of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board were up for election. Three were up in a regularly scheduled at-large election, while a fourth seat was up in for a separate special election.^[1][2][3]

Judicial elections

Pasrtisan elections were held for judgeships on the Circuit Court of Cook County due to vacancies. Retention elections were also held for the Circuit Court.^[1][2]

Partisan elections were also held for subcircuit courts judgeships due to vacancies.^[1][2] Retention elections were held for other judgeships.

Ballot questions

One ballot question was included on ballots county-wide during the March primary.

Tobacco Settlement

A ballot question involving tobacco settlement funds was included on the March primary ballot.

Tobacco Settlement^[3]

Candidate		Votes	%
Yes		421,260	86.70
No		64,608	13.30
Total votes		485,868	100

Other elections

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect both the Democratic and Republican committeemen for the wards of Chicago.^[3]

See also

• 2000 Illinois elections