Polling Results from March 17, 2020 primary

Polling results from March 17, 2020 primary

Cathy Decker/Correspondent

ALEDO -- Voter turnout was sparser than usual for the Illinois Primary in Mercer County on Tuesday,March 17. Governor JB Pritzker did not quash primary voting in Illinois on Tuesday despite a COVID-19 pandemic declaration, but some voters did stay home. Of the 12,275 registered voters in Mercer County, only 2,717 ballots were cast -- 1,373 Democratic ballots and 1,344 Republican ballots.

Presidential results for the Democrats showed Joseph R. Biden receiving 66 percent of the votes (911 votes), with Bernie Sanders coming in second place with 362 votes. Others receiving votes include: Michael R. Bloomberg: 8; Elizabeth Warren: 18; Pete Buttigieg: 24; Tom Steyer: 10; Andrew Yang: 9; Michael Bennett: 1; Tulsi Gabbard: 7 and Cory Booker: 1.

On the Republican side, Donald J. Trump gathered 95 percent of the votes: 1,206 and Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente received 60 votes.

Richard J. Durbin gathered 1,247 votes for the US senate race.

On the Republican ballot five individuals were in contention for making it to the November election as a US Senator Candidate. The Mercer County ballot results showed votes for Mark C. Curran Jr. 424; Tom Tarter: 188; Casey Chlebek: 56; Peggy Hubbard: 248 and Robert Marshall: 214.

Cheri Bustos received 1,290 votes for the 17th Congressional District representative seat. There were also five write ins for Spanky Edwards in the Republican race.

Republican candidates for 17th Congressional District are between two people, with Mercer County votes of 937 for Esther Joy King and 306 votes for William W. Fawell.

There were no Democratic candidates for the Illinois state senate seat in the 37th district, with Win Stoller taking 1,083 votes on the Republican ballot.

In the General Assembly race for the 74th district there was just one candidate filing for the seat on the Democratic ballot, Christopher P. DeMink with 1,118 votes. He will be facing Republican Dan Swanson, who received 1,233 votes from the Republican ballot.

Mercer County races were uncontested on the Democratic ticket with Kristin M. Relander receiving 1,190 votes for the Circuit Clerk slot. There was no Republican candidate for this position.  Meeghan N. Lee receiving 1,150 votes for States Attorney on the Democratic ballot, with Grace Simpson receiving 1,113 votes for the Republicans.

In the Coroner contest there were no Coroner candidates from the Democrats. The Republican ballot had two in contention with Gregory Larson receiving 724 votes and Gary L. Lucas Sr. 569 votes.

The Democratic Ballot had no candidates filing for Mercer County Board seats in Mercer County Districts 1 - 5. Republican votes followed with: District 1: Rebecca S. Hawn: 248 (6 precincts counted); District 2: no candidate (4 precincts); District 3: Linda Koepke: 262 (4 precincts); District 4:  Josh Frieden: 248 (5 precincts: District 5: no candidate (5 precincts).

Peter W. Church tallied 1,140 votes for Circuit Court judge in the 14th Judicial District on the Democratic ballot. He will be replacing Judge Walter Braud who retired. There was no Republican candidate listed on the primary ballot.

Votes for Precinct committee persons were both sparse and uncontested on the Democratic ballot with Richland Grove 2 candidatse Christopher P. DeMink receiving 38 votes; Gary Gregg (Greene 2) receiving 49 votes; Deborah L. Maynard (Mercer 1) 80 votes; Janet K. Occhi (Keithsburg) 45 votes.

On the Republican side the following votes were tallied for precinct committee persons:

North Henderson -Joanne Nelson: 51

Rivoli - no candidate

Richland Grove 1 - Buck Rind: 84

Richland Grove 2 - no candidate

Richland Grove 3 - no candidate

Suez - Jeff Gregory: 34

Greene 1 - no candidate

Greene 2 - Susan DeBlock: 34

Preemption 1- no candidate

Preemption 2- no candidate

Ohio Grove - no candidate

Mercer 1 - Barbara Ann Chiles: 41

Mercer 2 - Linda Sarabasa: 60

Mercer 3 - no candidate

Mercer 4 - no candidate

Mercer 5 - no candidate

Mercer 6 - Bob Vickery: 61

Perryton - no candidate

Abington - Dustin Terrill: 36

Millersburg - no candidate

Duncan - no candidate

Keithsburg - Rebecca S. Hawn: 21

Eliza - no candidate