Calhoun County voters show support for separation from Cook County
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By Steven Spencer
Calhoun County voters voted in favor of the question on the Tuesday, Nov. 5, ballot asking about separating from Cook County to form a new state.
The question asked voters: “Shall the board of Calhoun County correspond with other boards of Illinois, outside of Cook County, about the possibility of separating from Cook County to form a new state and to seek admission to the Union as such, subject to the approval of the people?”
A total of 1,856 voted yes while 566 voted no, with 76.63% of the vote in favor and 23.37% against.
Calhoun County saw 79.50% voter turnout this election with 2,699 ballots cast from 3,395 registered voters.
In the Presidential election, 76.67% of the vote went to Donald Trump with 2,054 votes, 20.90% went to Kamala Harris with 560 votes and 61 votes went to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Congresswoman Mary Miller and Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer both ran unopposed. Miller received 2,148 votes with 37 going to write-in candidates, and Davidsmeyer received 2,264.
Tricia Margherio was unopposed for Calhoun County Circuit Clerk with 2,243 votes.
Republican Lucas Fanning received 80.05% of votes for State’s Attorney while Democrat Stephen Friedel received 19.95%. Fanning received a total of 2,074 votes while Friedel received 517.
Democrat Peggy Hall received 1,344 votes for Calhoun County Supervisor of Assessments with no other candidate on the ballot.
Hayden Sievers received 1,717 votes for a full term as County Commissioner. Phil Robeen received 1,536. Deann Fester received 2,153 for an unexpired two-year term.
The ballot also had three statewide advisory questions. One question asked, should candidates appearing on ballots be subject to penalties if interfering with election worker duties? Another asked, should the state constitution be amended to create an additional three percent tax on income greater than $1,000,000? The third question asked, should medically assisted reproductive treatment such as in vitro fertilization be covered by health insurance plans without a limitation on the number of treatments?
Majority of the votes were yes votes on all three questions. There were 2,128 yes votes for question one and 337 no. Question two had 1,227 yes votes and 1,219 no. Question three had 1,425 yes votes and 985 no.
Calhoun County’s full election summary can be found online at calhouncountyil.gov on the County Clerk and Recorder page.
