Contents

1980 Illinois elections

1980 Illinois elections

← 1978 November 4, 1980 1982 →
Turnout	78.15%

Elections in Illinois
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Ballot measures and referendums State capitol referendum (1834) Cutback Amendment (1980) Crime Victim Rights Amendment (1992) Illinois Governor Recall Amendment (2010) Public Pension Amendment (2012) Marsy's Law (2014) Right to Vote Amendment (2014) Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment (2016) Fair Tax (2020) Right to Collective Bargaining Amendment (2022)
Chicago General elections 2019 2023 Mayoral elections 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1876 1877 1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 1893 sp 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 sp 1979 1983 1987 1989 sp 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 Aldermanic elections 1923 1925 1927 1929 2011 2015 2019 2023 Chicago Board of Education elections 2024 2026
Cicero Municipal elections 1924
Cook County County elections 1946 1980 State's Attorney 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
v t e

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 4, 1980.^[1]

Primaries were held on March 18.^[2]

Turnout in the primary election was 43.50%, with a total of 2,493,518 ballots cast.^[3] 1,321,810 Democratic and 1,171,708 Republican primary ballots were cast.^[2]

Turnout during the general election was 78.14%, with 4,868,623 ballots cast.^[1][3]

Illinois voted for Republican ticketofRonald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.^[1]

This was the fourth consecutive election in which the state had voted for the Republican ticket in a presidential election.

Incumbent Democrat Adlai Stevenson III, did not seek reelection. Democrat Alan J. Dixon was elected to succeed him.

In a January 22, 1980 special election for Illinois's 10th congressional district, Republican John Porter captured what had previously been a Democratic-held seat.

All of Illinois' 24 congressional seats were up for reelection in November 1980.

In the November election, none of Illinois' seats switched parties, with there remaining 14 Republican and seats 10 Democratic seats in Illinois' House of Representatives delegation.

Some seats of the Illinois Senate were up for election in 1980. Democrats retained control of the chamber.

All of the seats in the Illinois House of Representatives were up for election in 1980. Republicans flipped control of the chamber.

An election was held for three of nine seats for Trustees of University of Illinois system.

The election saw the reelection first-term incumbent Democratic Nina T. Shepherd and the election of new members, Republicans Galey S. Day and Dean E. Madden.^[1][4]

First-term incumbent Democrats Arthur R. Velasquez and Robert J. Lenz lost reelection.^[1][4]

Multiple judicial positions were up for election in 1980.

Illinois voters voted on a two ballot measures in 1980.^[5] In order to be approved, the measures required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the measure or 50% support among all ballots cast in the elections.^[5]

The two measures were approved, becoming the first amendments to be successfully made following the passage of the 1970 Constitution of Illinois.^[5]

Voters approved the Size of State House of Representatives Amendment (also known as "Amendment 1", the "Legislative Article", and the "Cutback Amendment"), which was an initiated constitutional amendment that amended Article IV, Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Illinois to reduce the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118 members, eliminated cumulative voting, and replace the use of multi-member districts with single-member districts.^[1][5][6][7]

Voters approved the Sale of Tax Delinquent Property Amendment (also known as the "Revenue Article" and "Article 2"), which was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment that amended Article IX, Section 8 of the Constitution of Illinois to reduce the redemption period on the sale of tax delinquent property.^[1][5][8][9]

Local elections were held.