1988 Cook County, Illinois, elections

← 1986 November 8, 1988 1990 →
Turnout	72.56%

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v t e

The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 8, 1988.^[1]

Primaries were held March 15, 1988.^[2]

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

1988 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.

Turnout in the primaries was 45.63%, with 1,236,750 ballots cast.^[2][3]

Vote totals of primaries^[2]

Primary	Chicago vote totals	Suburban Cook County vote totals	Total Cook County vote totals
Democratic	742,281	244,812	987,093
Republican	83,625	161,042	244,667
Illinois Solidarity	127	77	204
Nonpartisan	733	6,053	6,786
Total	826,766	411,984	1,236,750

The general election saw turnout of 72.56%, with 2,095,985 ballots cast.^[4] Chicago saw 1,14,080 ballots cast, and suburban Cook County saw 981,905 ballots cast.^[1]

Ballots had a straight-ticket voting option in 1988.^[1]

Party	Number of straight-ticket votes[1]
Democratic	442,219
Republican	276,923
Communist	102
Illinois Solidarity	508
John Davis Comm. Act.	0
Independent Tax Reform	974
Independent Progressive	0
Libertarian	1,531
Marie Goodlow Party	348

1988 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election

← 1984 November 8, 1988 1992 →
Turnout	68.25%[1][4]
Candidate Aurelia Pucinski Edward R. Vrdolyak Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,170,558 800,783 Percentage 59.38% 40.62%
Clerk before election Morgan M. Finley Democratic Elected Clerk Aurelia Pucinski Democratic

In the 1988 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County election, incumbent clerk Morgan M. Finley, a Democrat, did not seek reelection. Democrat Aurelia Pucinski was elected to succeed him.

Candidates

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

Candidate		Experience	Ref
	Jane Byrne	Former mayor of Chicago (1979–1983)
	Thomas S. Fuller	Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago since 1978	[5]
	Janice Hart	1984 Democratic nominee for Illinois Secretary of State, supporter of the LaRouche movement	[6]
	Aurelia Pucinski	Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago since 1984

Results

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Democratic primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Aurelia Marie Pucinski	407,958	51.96
	Democratic	Jane M. Byrne	296,298	37.74
	Democratic	Thomas S. Fuller	60,863	7.75
	Democratic	Janice A. Hart	20,061	2.55
Total votes			785,180	100

Candidate

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

Candidate		Experience	Ref
	Edward Vrdolyak	Former Chicago alderman (1971–1987), former president of the Chicago City Council (1977–1983), former Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party (1982–1987), 1987 Illinois Solidarity Party nominee for mayor of Chicago

Results

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Republican primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edward R. Vrdolyak	191,798	100
Total votes			191,798	100

No candidates ran in the Illinois Solidarity Party primary.^[2]

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

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Aurelia Marie Pucinski	1,170,558	59.38
	Republican	Edward R. Vrdolyak	800,783	40.62
Total votes			1,971,341	100

1988 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election

← 1984 November 8, 1988 1992 →
Turnout	65.06%[1][4]
Candidate Carol Moseley Braun Bernard L. Stone Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,020,805 795,540 Percentage 54.32% 42.33%
Recorder of Deeds before election Harry Yourell Democratic Elected Recorder of Deeds Carol Moseley Braun Democratic

In the 1988 Cook County Recorder of Deeds election, incumbent first-term recorder of deeds Harry Yourell, a Democrat, did not seek reelection, instead running to be a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Democrat Carol Moseley Braun was elected to succeed him.

Mosely Braun's election made her the first African-American to hold the office of Cook County recorder of deeds.^[7]

Candidates

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Cook County Recorder of Deeds Court:

Candidate		Experience	Ref
	Sheila A. Jones	Perennial candidate
	Carol Moseley Braun	Member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 1979

Results

Cook County Recorder of Deeds Democratic primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Moseley Braun	424,480	78.05
	Democratic	Sheila A. Jones	119,372	21.95
Total votes			543,852	100

Candidates

The following candidate ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Cook County Recorder of Deeds Court:

Candidate	Experience	Ref
Maureen Murphy	Worth Township Clerk
Bernard Stone	Chicago alderman since 1973

Results

Cook County Recorder of Deeds Republican primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bernard L. Stone	114,985	59.31
	Republican	Maureen Murphy	78,895	40.69
Total votes			193,880	100

No candidates ran in the Illinois Solidarity Party primary.^[2] The party ultimately nominated Edward M. Wojkowski.^[1]

Cook County Recorder of Deeds election^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Moseley Braun	1,020,805	54.32
	Republican	Bernard L. Stone	795,540	42.33
	Illinois Solidarity	Edward M. Wojkowski	62,968	3.35
Total votes			1,879,313	100

1988 Cook County State's Attorney election

← 1984 November 8, 1988 1990 (special) →
Turnout	67.68%[1][4]
Candidate Richard M. Daley Terrance W. Gainer Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,303,906 650,942 Percentage 66.70% 33.30%
State's Attorney before election Richard M. Daley Democratic Elected State's Attorney Richard M. Daley Democratic

In the 1988 Cook County State's Attorney election, incumbent second-term state's attorney Richard M. Daley, a Democrat, was reelected.

Cook County State's Attorney Democratic primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard M. Daley (incumbent)	641,789	100
Total votes			641,789	100

Cook County State's Attorney Republican primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Terrance W. Gainer	177,879	100
Total votes			177,879	100

No candidates ran in the Illinois Solidarity Party primary.^[2]

Cook County State's Attorney election^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard M. Daley (incumbent)	1,303,906	66.70
	Republican	Terrance W. Gainer	650,942	33.30
Total votes			1,954,848	100

1988 Cook County Board of Appeals special election

← 1986 November 8, 1988 1990 →
1 of 2 seats on the Cook County Board of Review
Turnout	65.27%[1][4]
First party Second party   Party Democratic Republican Seats before 2 0 Seats after 2 0 Seat change Seats up 1 0 Races won 1 0

Candidate Joseph Berrios David R. Wiltise Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,170,558 714,736 Percentage 60.68% 39.32%

Commissioner before election Thomas A. Jaconetty Democratic Elected Commissioner Joseph Berrios Democratic

In the 1988 Cook County Board of Appeals special election, one seat on the board were up for election. Due to the death of Harry Semrow, this special election was held to fill the seat he had served on.^[8] Democrat Joseph Berrios was elected to fill the seat.

Thomas A. Jaconetty had been appointed to hold the seat until the new commissioner elected in this race would be seated.^[8]

31st Ward committeeman Joseph Berrios, the Democratic Party organization-endorsed candidate, won the Democratic primary.^[2][8]

Cook County Board of Appeals Democratic primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph Berrios	302,253	54.47
	Democratic	Jeffrey Paul Smith	252,633	45.53
Total votes			554,886	100

Cook County Board of Appeals Republican primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David R. Wiltse	154,447	100
Total votes			154,447	100

No candidates ran in the Illinois Solidarity Party primary.^[2]

Cook County Board of Appeals Democratic primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph Berrios	1,170,558	60.68
	Republican	David R. Wiltse	714,736	39.32
Total votes			1,885,294	100

1988 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election

← 1986 November 8, 1988 1990 →
3 of 9 seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

In the 1988 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago election, three of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago board were up for election in an at-large election.^[1] All three Democratic nominees won.^[1]

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

Coinciding with the primaries, elections were held to elect the Democratic, Republican, and Illinois Solidarity committeemen for the wards of Chicago.^[2]

• 1988 Illinois elections